The immigrant population is due to soar over the next decade, with the American government set to issue more new green cards over the next 10 years than the combined populations of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
According to information from the
Senate's Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, exclusively obtained by
Breitbart, the vast majority of U.S. immigration stems from legal visas that are issued, most of which go to lesser-skilled and lower-paid workers and their dependents.
The federal government has been issuing roughly 1 million green cards every year, or a total of 5.25 million in the last five years alone, according to the briefing.
By comparison, just 3 million green cards per decade were issued during the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Since 1970, the foreign-born population has increased more than four-fold, standing at a record of 42.1 million today, according to the briefing.
"If Congress does not pass legislation to reduce the number of green cards issued each year, the U.S. will legally add 10 million or more new permanent immigrants over the next 10 years — a bloc of new permanent resident larger than populations of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina combined," the briefing said.
"This has substantial economic implications."
According to one expert quoted in the paper, the influx of immigrants at the lower end of the income scale has put downward pressure on the relative wages of workers, hitting the low-skilled the hardest.
"The last four decades have witnessed a dramatic change in the wage and employment structure in the United States," Eric Gould, an economics professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said.
"The overall evidence suggests that the manufacturing and immigration trends have hollowed-out the overall demand for middle-skilled workers in all sectors, while increasing the supply of workers in lower skilled jobs. Both phenomena are producing downward pressure on the relative wages of workers at the low end of the income distribution."
The paper pointed out that green card holders not only receive the benefit of lifetime work authorization but also have access to federal benefits such as welfare, Social Security and Medicare.
Visa issuances can be adjusted at any time under federal law.
The immigration reform legislation put forward by the
Senate's Gang of Eight proposed tripling the number of green cards issued over the next 10 years to 30 million.
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