A White House official said Wednesday Congress needs to limit “chain migration” as part of a deal to grant citizenship to young people living in the country illegally because not doing so could trigger the largest immigrant wave “in the history of the world.”
The official, speaking on background with reporters, said if young people currently eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are allowed to sponsor more than spouses and children, you can take “whatever number they give you, and multiply it by three or four.”
“Each two immigrants averages seven sponsorships. A legalization of 2 million would be a net legalization of something like 9 million total, so two would become nine,” he said. “Which would mean that instead of issuing say roughly 10 million green cards over a decade, you end up issuing something like 20 million, which would be the largest increase in immigration not only in the history of our country but probably in the history of the world.”
The official did not answer a reporter’s question about where the average family sponsorship data came from.
The official also refused to say if first lady Melania Trump’s parents, who are from Slovenia, are benefiting from a type of chain migration that the bill would end. “I doubt your question is well-intentioned,” the official said, declining to comment on the couple’s immigration status.
President Trump is pushing for four principles in an immigration deal, trading legalization and a 10-12 year path to citizenship for 1.8 million young people for a border wall, an end to the visa lottery system, and limits on U.S. citizens’ ability to sponsor family for green cards.
The background call with reporters was organized by the White House to urge passage of a bill from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that includes Trump’s four pillars but doesn’t have Democratic sponsorship. Officials acknowledged other competing proposals are coming. Two federal judges have blocked termination of protections for young immigrants under the Obama-era DACA program, which the Trump administration planned to end in early March.
