Thirty-three years ago, Senate Democrat Harry Reid introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act — a bill to reserve family green cards for spouses and children, eliminate the visa lottery, and bring overall immigration down to numbers the country can sustain. It emerged alongside Barbara Jordan’s bipartisan commission, a story Roy Beck retells in a new Commonplace magazine essay, and it embodied the same conviction: immigration policy exists to serve the national interest.

That bill is now back before the Senate, word for word, as S. 4983, the Harry Reid Immigration Stabilization Act. It would end the extended-family chains that put green cards on autopilot, close the lottery that raffles off lifetime work permits, and cap refugee admissions at 50,000 per year — the Jordan Commission’s own number. Please support S. 4983 and give the Senate the chance to finish work that leaders of both parties began three decades ago.

Rules and executive orders swing back and forth with every administration; only a statute provides stability. Americans have waited long enough for an immigration system built around their wages, their communities, and their country’s needs.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff