On his popular HBO show LastWeekTonight, comedian John Oliver skewered the US legal immigration system, smacking down the common talking point that people wanting to immigrate to the US should “get in line” and come in “the right way”.
In truth, as Oliver points out, the legal immigration process in America doesn’t provide a clear or realistic pathway for many people at all.
One rule in the US states that no country should make up more than 7% of the total legal immigration population coming to the US per year.
This means immigrant hopefuls from populous countries like China, India, or Mexico oftentimes have to wait decades if they want to enter the country legally.
Oliver also points out that only “direct” family members are permitted to permanently reside in the country legally as an immigrant, meaning no cousins, no aunts, no uncles, no grandchildren, or no grandparents–just kids, parents, and spouses or fiancees.
Oliver then categorizes legal immigration into “good luck” and “bad luck”.
What Oliver means by “good luck”, is people that apply for the legal immigration lottery.
The problem with this category is that literally millions of people apply for the lottery every year, while only 50,000 are accepted.
As Oliver notes, this is roughly the same odds as becoming a victim of gun violence in America.
The “bad luck” category means those who seek asylum in the US.
These refugees make up a significant portion of the US legal immigration, but in recent years, the Trump administration has been trying hard to limit this number as much as possible.
Basically, Oliver points out that in reality there are very few legal routes to US citizenship, green card status, or another form of legal permanent residency.
For this reason, he argues, it should be no surprise that millions of people enter America every year and stay as illegal immigrants.
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