Flake-Graham-Durbin Proposal Would Cripple Border Security and Expand Chain Migration
The Flake-Graham-Durbin proposal fails to enshrine into law the baseline immigration reforms that were
deemed necessary and essential by the very people responsible for enforcing and administering our
immigration system every day. The enactment into law of the Flake-Graham-Durbin proposal would
exacerbate the worst features of our immigration system by increasing illegal immigration and increasing
chain migration. Below follows an analysis of some of the proposal’s most egregious flaws*.
#1 Fails to Secure the Border
This proposal provides less than 10 percent of the necessary funds to construct the border wall, and of
that, just 5 percent would be dedicated for “border planning, design, and construction.”
Additionally, the proposal would subject any appropriated funds to significant bureaucratic constraints
that will swell costs, increase inefficiencies, and inhibit the Department of Homeland Security’s ability
to actually construct the wall. Specifically, it would subject funds to such conditions as an eminent
domain report, an environmental protections report, comptroller general review, and the use of
“existing barrier technology,” which has proved to be a failure.
Existing laws and restrictions on DHS’s ability to construct the wall are already significant, and the
subjection of any funds to additional conditions will almost certainly ensure that the wall will never be
constructed in a timely and efficient manner.
Immigration enforcement is border security. This proposal does nothing to close enforcement
loopholes, meaning that illegal aliens will be able to show up at the border and gain automatic release
into the United States. No new authorities are provided to remove deportable aliens.
#2 Increases Illegal Immigration and Guarantees Future Amnesties
The core of the proposal provides immigration benefits to certain illegal aliens who came to the United
States as juveniles. But rather than address the significant flaws in existing law that permit and
facilitate the presence of such individuals in the United States—such as the Trafficking Victims
Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), the Flores settlement agreement, or other structural
flaws in the system—the enactment into law of this proposal would only ensure that a future Congress
and a future administration will have to deal with the same issue in due time.
Significantly, the Department of Homeland Security apprehended more than 62,000 purported
“unaccompanied alien children” since the beginning of FY 2017, and experiences great difficulty trying
to remove these individuals. Unless Congress acts as requested by the Trump Administration, this
number will continue to grow until some point in the future—when calls for yet another legalization
will arise.
In the past, large-scale legalizations of segments of the illegal population has resulted in increased
unlawful border crossings. In recent months, illegal immigration has been increasing. This bill’s
proposal to legalize potentially millions of illegal aliens, while at the same time failing to make
necessary changes to existing laws, will result in not only a continued flow of illegal aliens across the
border— but likely a larger flow than we have now.
#3 The Proposal Not Only Grants Citizenship To Up to 3 Million “DREAMers,” But Also Grants Legal Status to
Their Parents
DACA benefitted a total of 690,000 individuals.

 This bill grants a path to citizenship to an illegal population that is nearly five times larger than the
population of DACA recipients.
The Migration Policy Institute has estimated that as many as 3.245 million illegal aliens who arrived
before June 15, 2012 would be eligible for legalization under similar proposals.
Further, the proposal would effectively provide amnesty to their parents—the very individuals
responsible for bringing them here in the first place—by granting legal status and three-year
renewable work permits for their parents. The proposal states that it would “prohibit any parent who
illegally brought into the country a child who receive status under the Dream Act from being sponsored
by any of their children,” yet by granting them temporary status and work authorization, it would
reward the very individuals who are at fault for creating this situation in the first place.
Presuming each of these illegal aliens has two parents, this bill could potentially grant legal status to up
to as many as 9.7 million foreign nationals beyond existing immigration levels.
#4 Increases Chain Migration
The Flake-Graham-Durbin bill keeps chain migration in place while increasing the number of individuals
eligible to bring in their foreign relatives through chain migration.
Under current law, illegal aliens are unable to legally bring over their foreign relatives through chain
migration. By providing a pathway to citizenship to as many as 3.245 million illegal aliens while leaving
chain migration intact across the entire U.S. immigration system, these individuals would then be able
to bring over all of their non-parental relatives through chain migration, who in turn could bring in
their foreign relatives, potentially adding millions of people to future flows of chain migrants on top of
existing chain migration flows.
#5 Fails To End the Visa Lottery
Based on information that is publicly available, the Flake-Graham-Durbin proposal keeps core elements
of the Visa Lottery in place, while converting other elements into a new amnesty program.
For several years, it would reallocate half of the annual Visa Lottery visas to recipients of Temporary
Protected Status (TPS), who would be allowed to stay and work here for years until they receive their
green cards.
The other half of the annual Visa Lottery visas (27,500) would continue to be issued to nationals from
“underrepresented” countries, who in turn would benefit from chain migration.
Once the backlog of TPS migrants has been cleared, all of the annual visas (50,000) will go back to
nationals of underrepresented countries.
*This analysis is based on the information about the bill that has been publicly released to date. Much like the 2013 Gang of Eight
immigration bill, few details of the proposal have been made public to corroborate.