H.R. 8586, the Americans First Immigration Act, would put American workers at the front of the hiring line. It requires employers to seek American workers before importing foreign labor, replaces the visa lottery with a merit-based system, and ends chain migration (the practice that allows new immigrants to sponsor extended family members, who then sponsor others in turn) — reducing annual green cards by roughly 275,000.

That matters because the workers this country needs are already here. The Center for Immigration Studies reported last week that 43.5 million U.S.-born, working-age men and women are not in the labor force — 9.1 million more than in 2000. Simply returning participation to the 2000 rate would add 5.5 million Americans. A system that imports more than a million new workers a year while so many citizens sit on the sidelines is not serving the American people.

Please support H.R. 8586 and help build an immigration system that asks employers to look to Americans first.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Jay Obernolte