Voters in Wisconsin are overwhelmingly in favor of a reduction in immigration, according to the results of a new poll, conducted by Numbers USA. Almost two-thirds of Wisconsin residents want to see immigration numbers slashed by at least half, and Congress seems to be responding to such concerns from voters.
The recently introduced Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act (RAISE), would reduce legal immigration by more than 40 percent. It would also see green cards distributed by way of the contribution to the US economy that each immigrant could potentially make. The RAISE Act, introduced by Senators, Tom Cotton, and David Perdue, wants to overhaul the US immigration system, which has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s and uses an allotment system. It gives preference to green cards given to the extended families of current legal immigrants, even though they may not have skills that are useful to the economy.
The RAISE Act would instead see preference given to skilled applicants, as well as to the young children and spouses of permanent residents and those who have US citizenship. The bill would also end the US visa lottery that awards 50,000 green cards each year to immigrants from nations with low US immigration levels completely at random.
63 percent of Wisconsin survey respondents agree with restricting immigration to immediate relatives, with two-thirds also opposed to the current US visa lottery system.