The passing of the immigration bill that has already been approved by the Senate would clear the backlog of immigrants who are attempting to receive green cards and become legal residents of the United States, according to a piece by the Editorial Board of the Washington Post.
The piece says that at least four million newcomers would be able to get standard legal immigration from 2015 onwards, a figure that under the legislation of today would take a quarter of a century. Communities all over the United States would witness a massive increase in immigration, an increase that would help local economies as well as the overall US economy.
The annual limit for green cards is currently unable to meet the level of demand, with the result being that there is a backlog of millions of potential immigrants who have been waiting many years for a chance to legally come to the United States. Many of those still waiting include married sons and daughters and siblings of people who are already US citizens, with some people having been waiting more than two decades to be able to get a green card. Some people have died waiting while others have simply lost interest in gaining citizenship due to the time involved.
The bill would help to reunite families that have been torn apart for many years in addition to clearing the ridiculously long backlog, according to the Editorial Board, with the bill also likely to prevent such backlogs from occurring in the future.