This will be short.
I keep reading on this blog that "There are no legal paths for Mexicans to immigrate to the U.S."
The simple truth is that citizens of Mexico have dominated, yes dominated, the legal immigration system in the U.S. for years now.
There is plenty of data for anyone who is interested. Spend some time with the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. For 2010, Table 3 of U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2010 shows that citizens of Mexico were granted 13.3% of all LPR's, more than the next two countries China and India combined, and more than all of Europe for 2010. For the year 2009, Mexican citizens accounted for 14.6 percent of all LPR's, more than the next three countries combined, and half again as much as all of Europe.
The following represents the typical comment on this blog.
A diary a while back here explained that. After removing all the various special categories. there were something like 280 slots left for a Mexican to apply for
My response to this individual, my response generally, is "yes, and the reason for this is the U.S. family based immigration system"
Family-based Immigrant Visas
Now, the plan from some of 'the groups' is remove numerical caps on the F-1 thru F-4 categories, and also allow for skills based immigration in addition to the current unlimited categories.
Family Immigration: Repairing our Broken Immigration System
Because there are more people who qualify than visas available through the preference system each year, many close family members of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents are waiting in long backlogs. For example, spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents must wait 7 to 10 years to unite their families.
The fact that the F1 thru F4 categories have quotas, and these quotas have backlogs, means the that the U.S. immigration system is 'broken', and we need to 'fix it'.
This coming from (the Immigration Policy Center) the front group for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
