When I came here in 1971all you could bring was a spouse, and any under aged children..
no grandmas or sisters or cousins or even adult children..
The list of people eligible to immigrate only included those with an American spouse not a Granny or even an American child...
so there was no “chain migration”
There was chain migration in 1971. The 1965 Immigration Act provided for it. Once you got here, received your green card, and became established, you could support other relatives coming here. Naturally, they couldn't accompany you when you first applied to come here.
The 1965 Immigration Act created the so-called family reunification system, chain migration caused the numbers in this category to steadily rise. Five years after chain migration began, the number of immediate relative admissions had nearly doubled (from 32,714 in 1965 to 79,213 in 1970); ten years after, it had almost tripled (to 91,504 in 1975); 15 years after, it was nearly five times higher (151,131 in 1980); 20 years after, it was nearly six times higher (204,368 in 1985); 25 years after, it was seven times higher (231,680 in 1990); less than 30 years after, it was eight times higher (249,764 in 1994); and in 2001, 36 years later, the number of immediate relatives admitted 443,964-over 13 times higher.
Since most immigration categories have a limit to the number of people who can be admitted each year, immigrants' relatives back home must often wait for years to be admitted. Because of chain migration, over three million aliens have been told they are eligible to immigrate but have to wait. Many of them do not, figuring that, since they are eligible anyway, they should not have to wait for the U.S. government to get around to doing the paperwork. In this way, chain migration-and the expectations and long lines it produces-increases illegal immigration.
The problem will get worse. The illegal aliens given amnesty by Congress in 1986 are now fueling naturalization in record numbers. As these former illegal aliens become citizens, all of their immediate relatives qualify to come immediately to the United States, and start new migration chains of their own.