House Judiciary Committee Approves Immigration Legislation

By a vote of 22-14, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would eliminate per-country caps on employment-based green cards and raise per-country caps for family-based immigrant green cards. The EAGLE Act of 2021 is sponsored by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee of Immigration and Citizenship. Representative Lofgren mentioned in a press release in 2021 when the bill was introduced, “The basic framework for allocating immigrant visas dates back to the middle of the 20th century and was last seriously updated in 1990, when Congress established the worldwide numerical limits on visas and the seven-percent per-country cap that still exists today. Over time, these limitations have led to backlogs that were unimaginable in 1990. The effect has been that countries with relatively small populations are allocated the same number of visas as a relatively large-population country. The result? A person from a large-population country with extraordinary qualifications who could contribute greatly to our economy and create jobs waits behind a person with lesser qualifications from a smaller country. It makes no sense. Because of this, we are now seeing recruiters from outside America luring those with the highest skills away from the U.S. That hurts our economy. The bipartisan EAGLE Act moves our country toward a system that de-emphasizes birthplace and better serves America. Simply put, it will allow U.S. companies to focus on what they do best – hiring smart people to create products and services, which creates jobs in our districts.”

On the other side of the U.S. Capitol, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced plans to revive bipartisan discussion on immigration reform. For more information, please read the article from The Hill Newspaper.