Watch: Dick Durbin Advocated for Ending ‘Chain Migration’ in 2010, a Term He Now Says is Racist

Durbin nation of immigrants
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty
John Binder
Washington, D.C.

In 2010, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) advocated on the Senate floor for ending the process known as “chain migration,” whereby newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the U.S., a term that he now claims insinuates racism.

While asking Congress to pass the expansive and failed “DREAM Act” amnesty, which would start by legalizing millions of illegal aliens, Durbin touted the fact that the legislation at the time would have ended chain migration, preventing newly amnestied illegal aliens from bringing their extended family members to the U.S.

“The DREAM Act would not allow what is known as chain migration,” Durbin said. “In fact, DREAM Act students would have very limited ability to sponsor their family members for legal status.” [Emphasis added]

Durbin, though, is now attacking Trump for popularizing the term “chain migration,” claiming the technical immigration term that he has previously used is offensive to African-Americans, as Breitbart News reported:

That was the nature of this conversation. When it came to the issue of, quote, “chain migration,” I said to the president, do you realize how painful that term is to so many people? African-Americans believe they migrated to America in chains and when you talk about chain migration, it hurts them personally. [Emphasis added]

Democrats have been exceptionally unwilling to cut a deal with Trump on immigration, specifically on provisions that would end the wildly unpopular process of chain migration, as well as the Diversity Visa Lottery program.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data reveals that about 9.3 million foreign nationals have come to the U.S. as chain migrants between 2005 and 2016. In that same time period, a total of 13.06 million foreign nationals have entered the U.S. through the legal immigration system, as every seven out of ten new arrivals come to the country for nothing other than family reunification.

This makes chain migration the largest driver of immigration to the U.S. — making up more than 70 percent — with every two new immigrants bringing seven foreign relatives with them.

As Breitbart News reported, five years of chain migration to the U.S. adds more people to the country than one year of American births.

Since August 2017, Trump has called for an end to chain migration, noting how it does not allow the U.S. to select its immigrants – rather opening the door to unskilled, low-wage foreign nationals who solely arrive in America to reunify with extended foreign relatives.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. 

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