Sen. Sessions Offers Amendment to Cap Foreign Workers and Amnesty Grants at 30 Million

May 7, 2013
By Craig Bannister
cns news

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is offering an amendment to the immigration bill that would cap foreign workers and illegal aliens given legal status at about 30 million over the next decade.

Sen. Sessions warned today of the dangers of passing the immigration bill without change:

"One particularly crucial amendment I have filed defends American workers. This bill would authorize a dramatic surge in permanent low-skill and chain migration-and would bring in millions more temporary foreign workers-at a time when 90 million Americans are outside the labor force and nearly 50 million are on food stamps. The result would be lower wages and more unemployment."

To address this concern, his amendment would put a cap on the influx of foreign workers and new legal Residents, Sessions says:

"The amendment I have offered would cap the number of foreign workers granted admission to the country, and immigrants granted legal status, at approximately 30 million over a decade, with a shift to a more merit-based system over the low-skill surge in the proposed legislation.

"Thirty million, while considerably lower than what the Gang of Eight has proposed, is still an extremely high number and must be reduced further. But this amendment is a starting point in scaling back the extraordinary and unacceptable future flow in this bill. Reasonable immigration levels are also necessary to promote assimilation."

Sessions says failure to adopt his amendment will make it even more difficult for the immigration bill to gain enough support to pass:

"Already, one of the bill's chief sponsors has admitted it will have trouble in the Senate and can't pass the House. If even the modest amendment I have offered fails, it is exceedingly difficult to see a way forward for this bill. There is simply no public support for a tripling of the immigration flow into this country as this legislation calls for."

http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannis...nts-30-million