Week 2: The Immigration Act of 1990
Welcome back, everyone! I hope your lives have been amazing since we last talked. This week, I will discuss the previously mentioned Immigration Act of 1990 in detail. The main focus of this bill was not on the country cap. The overall view towards immigration at the time was positive, and many of the provisions drafted by Simpsons and other restrictionists did not make it to the final bill. For the passing of any restrictions provisions, they had to compromise with some liberal provisions.
Some of these provisions have enacted the following changes:
1. Increased Immigration Quotas: The Act increased the total number of immigrants allowed into the United States annually, raising the annual ceiling from 540,000 to 700,000.
2. Creation of Employment-Based Immigration Categories: It established new employment-based immigration categories, including the EB-5 investor visa program, which allows foreign investors to obtain permanent residency by investing in job-creating enterprises in the United States.
3. Diversity Visa Program: The Act introduced the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV Program), commonly known as the green card lottery, which allocates visas to individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
4. Family-Based Immigration Changes: It made modifications to the family-based immigration system, including the expansion of the visa categories available for family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
5. Visa Lottery Program: The Act established a lottery system for allocating visas to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States, with the aim of promoting diversity in the immigrant population.
6. Labor Certification Requirements: It imposed stricter labor certification requirements for certain employment-based immigrant visas, aiming to protect American workers and ensure that foreign workers do not adversely affect the job market.
7. Increased Visa Fees: The Act raised fees for various immigration-related applications and services, providing additional revenue for immigration processing and enforcement activities.
8. Expansion of Temporary Worker Programs: It expanded temporary worker programs, such as the H-1B visa program for skilled workers and the H-2A visa program for agricultural workers, to address labor shortages in specific sectors of the economy.
Overall, the Immigration Act of 1990 aimed to reform and update the U.S. immigration system by increasing immigration levels, diversifying the immigrant population, addressing labor needs, and streamlining immigration processes.
Having a hyperspecific topic such as this has allowed me to look at every single perspective, nuance, and complexity the topic brings with it. This also serves as a reminder that politics is complex. While one might see a solution as a detriment to the nation’s best interest, others might see it as a benefit. And the application of these policies may seem beneficial at first, but as time erodes the weaker materials that compose these policies, we begin to see the system falling short in its capabilities. After the passing of this bill, the ’90s saw a great influx of migrants. In fact, the decade saw the largest surge of migrants ever to date. This coupled with the fact that the 1990s was a time of strong economic growth, steady job creation, low inflation, and high productivity made the decade a golden era for immigrants to arrive in the United States.
I will expand on the trends that followed this decade in my subsequent posts. I hope you all are enjoying reading my blogs and are educating yourselves along with me. See you all next week!