[jackbenimble]

I may be wrong about this, but I was under the impression that in order to come here legally an applicant had to show a skill that we needed.

There are several routes to legal immigration. You are describing one of them. There are green card slots for: skilled workers, unskilled workers, family reunification, refugees, visa lottery winners and I think very rich people like George Soros.

By far the largest category is family reunification. Once one immigrant becomes a citizen he can petition to bring his parents, spouse, children, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. And as each of these become citizens they can likewise petition. We end up with chain migration where we import whole villages and tribes and a lot of them are older folks and unskilled folks who represent a taxpayer burden.

This area of our legal immigration policy badly needs reform. We should make family reunification easier, faster and in fact almost automatic but it should be limited strictly to spouse and minor children. Once somebody is a citizen they can always go visit their parents and extended family or have them visit America but the taxpayer should not get stuck with welfare for a bunch of old people and ignorant people who have never contributed anything to the tax base.

[Serenissima Venezia]

Once somebody is a citizen they can always go visit their parents and extended family or have them visit America but the taxpayer should not get stuck with welfare for a bunch of old people and ignorant people who have never contributed anything to the tax base.

Ain't that the truth! We have enough of our own deadbeats without importing more. It seems crazy that an elderly person that never paid into our system could come here and draw SS and Medicare benefits. I don't imagine I could decide to move to Italy [or insert any other country here] when I'm 65 and receive a pension from that country. It's meant for those that paid into it their whole lives.

Somedays, when I think of the mess liberals have made of the U.S., I think our country is so far gone that I just want to give up. Luckily, so far, I wake up each day with renewed energy and motivation. But it is very frustrating!