More than one in five U.S.-born men of working age is neither working nor looking for work — roughly double the share in 1960, according to a Center for Immigration Studies report released July 23. In all, 43.5 million U.S.-born, working-age men and women are outside the labor force. The study’s authors found that if just 13 percent of them rejoined it, they would add 5.7 million workers — about the same as all the growth in immigrant workers since 2016.

Yet over half of the more than one million green cards issued each year go to family categories, most selected without any regard to skills or labor-market conditions. S. 1328, the Nuclear Family Priority Act, would change that. It limits sponsorship to the spouses and minor children of citizens and legal permanent residents, closing the extended-family categories that expand immigration automatically, year after year, no matter how many Americans are out of work.

Please support S. 1328. Every green card issued on autopilot is a missed chance to draw a sidelined American back into the workforce.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff