Washington, Jan 25 (IANS) Warning that unchecked immigration could erode the nation’s economic strength and political freedoms, a senior Republican lawmaker has said the United States should cap the number of new citizens at 800,000 a year, “or maybe even less.”
Congressman Glenn Grothman told colleagues that allowing unlimited immigration would make the country “not only poorer, but America will become much less free.”
Speaking on the floor of the US House of Representatives, the Wisconsin Republican argued that failure to enforce existing immigration laws risks permanently altering the nation’s character and constitutional foundations.
In a 30-minute address, Grothman described immigration as “the most significant issue this Congress and next Congress and that this President and the next President is going to have to deal with,” saying the outcome would determine “whether America fundamentally changes or not.”
Grothman spoke about the current levels of legal immigration. “Right now in America, every year about 800,000 people are naturalised,” he said, adding that this aspect of immigration receives little public attention compared with illegal border crossings.
In addition to those new citizens, Grothman said roughly 500,000 people enter the United States each year on work visas and another 500,000 on student visas. “People being what they are, many of these people on visas stay in the United States anyway,” he said.
He also focused on birthright citizenship, noting that the United States is “one of the few countries in the world” that grants citizenship based on birth on US soil. Grothman argued that current interpretations of the law are “wrong,” citing the example of foreign nationals who travel to the US to give birth and then return to their home countries.
Grothman said these factors explain why “today over 15 per cent of the people in the United States of America were born abroad,” calling it “an all-time high.” He warned that if Congress “does nothing,” the share of foreign-born residents would continue to grow.
The lawmaker compared present-day figures with past decades, saying the number of people naturalised each year is “about four times what it was when I was a child in the 1960s.” He insisted the country “has nobody to apologize to” for enforcing immigration limits, arguing that far more people are being admitted legally now than in previous generations.
Grothman accused the administration of former President Joe Biden of allowing “about 8 to 10 million people into the country,” saying they crossed the southern border illegally. He said those arrivals came “in addition to all of these other people” entering through legal channels.
Raising concerns about civic values, Grothman questioned whether some immigrants shared the moral and constitutional commitments he described as necessary to sustain the American system. He said new arrivals “may not respect our Constitution” and asked whether they would support “the limited government that our forefathers felt that we needed.”
Quoting John F. Kennedy, Grothman said the country needs citizens who believe, “Ask not what your country will do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” He warned that expanding welfare expectations could shift elections toward demands for government benefits rather than restraint.
Addressing accusations of racism, Grothman listed the ten most common countries of origin for newly naturalized citizens, including Mexico, India, the Philippines, Cuba, Vietnam, China, El Salvador, Jamaica and Colombia. He argued it would be “odd for a racist country” to admit immigrants primarily from what he described as “people of color.”
Grothman also criticized governors and mayors in states such as Illinois, Minnesota, New York and California, accusing them of resisting federal immigration enforcement. He warned that if migrants believed laws would not be enforced in certain states, “everybody will come here,” effectively leaving the country with “no immigration law at all.”
–IANS
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