What Is ‘Chain Migration’? Trump Calls For A Ban After NYC Attack

President Donald Trump called for the end of “Chain Migration” in a tweet Wednesday after the deadly terror attack in Manhattan, New York, which left eight dead and dozens more injured.

The president called for a “merit-based” immigration policy and the termination of the diversity visa lottery program which he called a "Chuck Schumer beauty." "I am today starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program," he further added ahead of a Cabinet meeting Wednesday at the White House, CBS News reported. "I am going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program. Diversity lottery — sounds nice. It's not nice. It's not good. It's not good. It hasn't been good. We've been against it."

According to Numbers USA, chain migration is the chain of foreign nationals who are allowed to settle down in the U.S. because lawful permanent residents can sponsor their non-nuclear family members. In other words, the government has the power to admit an original immigrant into the nation after vetting him or her on the basis of national interest.

After the original immigrant is granted citizenship, he or she is allowed to bring his or her immediate nuclear family, consisting of spouse and minor children. Following the success of this, they can also petition for their parents, adult sons/daughters and their spouses and children, and their adult siblings, to be resettled in the U.S.

Sayfullo Saipov, who was arrested for the terrorist attack, arrived in the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Saipov was admitted to the country after showing a passport with a valid diversity immigrant visa to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Chain migration happens because the U.S. immigration policy is based on the principle of family reunification, not what each immigrant might be able to contribute to the society. The fact that the number of immigrants allowed into the country increased from 250,000 per year in the 1950s and 1960s to more than one million annually since 1990, has been largely attributed to chain migration.

After the unprecedented population boom in the U.S. was attributed to chain migration, a bi-partisan commission was formed under the Immigration Act of 1990 to review and evaluate the impact of this Act and the amendments made by this Act" and its impact on “on labor needs, employment, and other economic and domestic conditions in the United States."

Civil rights activist Barbara Jordan led the commission, who after studying the facts and numbers, came to the following conclusion on June 28, 1995: “Unless there is a compelling national interest to do otherwise, immigrants should be chosen on the basis of the skills they contribute to the U.S. economy. The Commission believes that admission of nuclear family members and refugees provide such a compelling national interest, even if they are low-skilled. Reunification of adult children and siblings of adult citizens solely because of their family relationship is not as compelling.”

However, Congress chose to ignore the findings of the commission, refusing to eliminate the policy of chain migration. According to Federation for American Immigration Reform, the amnesty given by the Congress to the illegal aliens to 1965 is presently causing naturalization at an alarming rate. By the virtue of chain migration policy, all the immediate relatives of an immigrant qualify to enter U.S. on a future date and thereafter start their own migration chains.

After an immigrant becomes a naturalized citizen of the nation – which happens five years after being admitted as a legal permanent immigrant – he or she can sponsor their children, spouses, parents, siblings, grandchildren, etc to relocate to the U.S.