McCAUGHEY: Merit immigration keeps losers out and lets winners in

U.S. immigration laws give preference to newcomers with family ties

Published Jun 19, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

A citizen casts her ballot at a polling station in Bern, on June 14, 2026 as Swiss vote on a divisive anti-immigration proposal to cap the country's population and another referendum on restricting access to conscientious objection to military service. Photo by Stefan Wermuth /Getty Images

Swiss voters went to the polls recently and resoundingly rejected capping the country’s rapidly growing population at 10 million by limiting immigration. Congratulations to the Swiss for staging a national conversation over immigration — something the United States urgently needs to do.

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The Swiss have seen their population soar by more than 25% since 2000. The newcomers are for the most part workers from neighbouring European countries, not migrants from the Middle East or Africa. Even so, the right-leaning Swiss People’s Party pushed for immigration restrictions, arguing that such rapid population growth strained housing, social programs and Swiss identity.

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But opponents of the measure, who dubbed it a “Swiss Brexit,” warned stopping the free flow of Europeans into Switzerland would threaten its special relationship with the European Union, which buys over half of all Swiss exports.

Opponents also argued that Switzerland has grown wealthy over many decades, despite a lack of natural resources, by attracting foreign innovators — including the immigrants who launched giant Swiss companies like Nestle, Swatch and Novartis.

The U.S. should take a page from the Swiss and launch its own national conversation on immigration. Here, however, the critical issue is not just the number of immigrants, but who gets in.

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In the U.S., a staggering 47% of households headed by a non-citizen collect welfare benefits such as food assistance or Medicaid. Ouch. That’s almost double the dependence rate (28%) for households headed by someone born in the U.S., according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies. Americans are fed up with taking in newcomers who need to mooch. It’s not sustainable.

Part of the blame goes to America’s crazy legal immigration laws, which give preference to newcomers with family ties — a child or other relative already here — instead of job skills, education, English-speaking ability or interest in American civic life. Congress needs to scrap those laws, enacted in 1965, and give the nation a merit immigration system that will boost the economy and spare taxpayers. That’s what smart countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore are doing.

Another part of the blame for the scandalous dependence of immigrants on welfare is former president Joe Biden’s open-border policy. The border surge, from 2021 through 2024, brought in migrants significantly less educated and capable of supporting themselves than those who came before. The number of newcomers with no education beyond high school more than doubled from 2019 to 2023, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies.

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The immigrants using welfare are not lazy. Most are working; in fact, they are more likely to be employed than U.S.-born adults, but their minimal schooling dooms them to earn little and become part of a permanent dependent class.

Adult male immigrants now earn 52% of what U.S.-born male workers earn, down from 62% in 2019, because of the Biden surge of unskilled, minimally educated migrants from Latin America. Ultimately, that will force down wages for low-skilled Americans too.

The Biden administration’s surge was nothing short of treasonous, like napalming our towns and cities, leaving them with a growing dependent class and public debt.

The border is now closed. President Donald Trump showed it could be done, without any major immigration legislation, despite the Democrats’ pleas that “comprehensive immigration reform” was needed first.

Now it’s time for Americans to have a national conversation on immigration, like the Swiss just did. The Swiss wanted to make sure their laws served the best interests of Switzerland. Our laws should serve the United States, not the rest of the world knocking on our doors.

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The current law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, must be replaced with immigration standards that boost our economy and avoid dependence on public handouts.

A new Harvard/Harris poll indicates this is the opportune time. The public regards immigration as the most pressing issue after affordability (No. 1) and the economy (No. 2). It far outstrips concerns for health care, the U.S.-Iran conflict, the environment or education.

So let’s get to it. Political polarization seems to be softening. A slim majority of Democrats polled (52%) now say their party is “against open borders.”

The Republicans, who risk losing control of Congress after the midterm elections, should seize the moment to divert the national conversation from the fringe controversy over Immigration and Customs Enforcement to merit immigration reform.

Who we let in will determine how we prosper as a nation.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant-governor of New York State

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