National Security Leaders Applaud Immigration Provisions in America COMPETES Act

For Immediate Release

Contact: Stacey Hutchinson
stacey@monumentadvocacy.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The Council on National Security and Immigration (CNSI) expresses support for the immigration provisions included in the America COMPETES Act that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday. CNSI urges Congress to include these important immigration provisions as they reconcile the House-passed America COMPETES Act of 2022 with the Senate-passed United States Innovation and Competition Act.

The provisions would bolster our immigration laws to support entrepreneurship and STEM scholars as contributing forces helping advance the U.S. as a global beacon of innovation. They also would ensure Uyghur ethnic minorities and Hong Kong citizens have access to refugee admission and protected status in the United States. Our nation’s immigration laws have long needed reform and we are encouraged to see the House has passed provisions that should draw support from both Democrats and Republicans by ensuring oppressed populations in Hong Kong and ethnic Uyghurs from China are eligible for refugee status and temporary protected status.

Furthermore, we applaud this bill for including proposals to allow STEM scholars the ability to work and continue residing in the U.S. We should allow foreign talent educated in America’s best universities to stay in the United States to help drive our economic engine. Instead, after they have completed their education, they work in countries that compete against the U.S., at the expense of the U.S. economy. The W visa proposal in the America COMPETES Act is a helpful first step to ensure our immigration laws meet our national interest.

As much as we are encouraged by these immigration provisions, which also include the Adoptee Citizenship Act, Congress must still work to advance bipartisan legislation that provides a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and bolsters other high-skill visa categories, humane refugee resettlement and asylum processing, and a robust border security and enforcement system that meets our national security needs.

###