GOP senator calls for immigration slowdown

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is calling for the United States to curb immigration levels.

Citing changes in immigration numbers going back to around 1880, Sessions argues in a Washington Post op-ed that slowing the pace of new immigrants arriving in the U.S. could benefit domestic workers. 

{mosads}”It is not mainstream, but extreme, to continue surging immigration beyond any historical precedent and to do so at a time when almost 1 in 4 Americans age 25 to 54 does not have a job,” Sessions wrote. 

“What we need now is immigration moderation: slowing the pace of new arrivals so that wages can rise, welfare rolls can shrink and the forces of assimilation can knit us all more closely together.” 

Sessions said around a million new immigrants come to the U.S. every year.

“As a matter of federal policy — which can be adjusted at any time — millions of low-wage foreign workers are legally made available to substitute for higher-paid Americans,” he said.

Sessions, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subpanel on immigration and citizenship, has been a tough critic of President Obama’s immigration policies. He backed tying Homeland Security funding to efforts to block Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration.

Republicans, many of whom have vowed to reverse Obama’s actions shielding deportation for up to 5 million illegal immigrants and offering new work visas, ended up funding the Department of Homeland Security, essentially leaving the issue to the courts.

A federal judge in Texas had put a hold on the president’s recent actions, while the Obama administration has petitioned the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to lift that hold. The court hears oral arguments next week.