What Is the EAGLE Act?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is per-country caps on employment visas. In June 2021, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif) introduced the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act. The bill was introduced again this year and scheduled for a vote. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced yesterday that the House was not “expected to complete consideration of H.R. 3648.”

Gillian Richards explained that the bill “seeks to clear up the backlog of green card applications,” but the bill has opposition. Conservatives are celebrating the failure of the bill. According to Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), “The EAGLE Act ignores the humanitarian crisis at our border and puts Big Tech ahead of American workers, even while U.S. citizens are still working less than before the lockdowns.” 

Richards quoted Fox News as saying that “U.S. tech companies have brought in large numbers of Chinese and Indian nationals on temporary visas. Nationals from these two countries face the most backlogs.” This fact goes against the Big Tech companies.

Amazon released the following statement in support of the bill: “We are proud to support the EAGLE Act and are continuing [advocacy] for common sense immigration reform on behalf of our employees and their families. We urge Congress to pass the #EAGLEAct, lifting unfair per-country visa caps for employment-based green cards.”

Congress needs to get serious on immigration reform, but the first thing that should be done is to secure the southern border to stop the floods of migrants from illegally invading our nation. Once the border is secure and the United States has control of who is entering and exiting the nation, then we can discuss what to do with those people who are living here illegally.