Inherent Discrimination in U.S. Immigration Processing is Intentional, Not an Oversight
- Jordan D. Howlette
- Mar 20
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
The U.S. immigration system is inherently discriminatory. While that’s a statement of opinion, it quickly becomes apparent when you review the way immigrants and applicants from different countries are treated—and how long processing and naturalization timelines are for countries that are not predominantly white.
Race and country of origin significantly impact these timelines. And while we’ve expressed our concerns about a second Trump administration, this pattern persists across different administrations, both Democratic and Republican, indicating a systemic issue rather than a transient policy choice.
Primary Methods of Immigration to the United States
The United States immigration system offers several pathways to permanent residency (green card) and eventual citizenship. These pathways can be broadly categorized into the following methods:
Family-Based Immigration: Allows U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor certain family members for immigration.
Employment-Based Immigration: This pathway is for individuals who have job offers from U.S. employers or possess skills, education, or experience deemed valuable to the U.S. economy.
Diversity Visa Program (Lottery): The Diversity Visa Program, commonly known as the "green card lottery," makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available annually to people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. Applicants must meet education or work experience requirements, and selection is made through a randomized computer drawing.
Humanitarian Programs: These programs include asylum, refugee resettlement, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and special immigrant juvenile status, which protect individuals fleeing persecution, natural disasters, or other humanitarian crises.
The Visa Bulletin and Country Caps
The Visa Bulletin is a monthly publication issued by the U.S. Department of State that determines when immigrants who have already been approved for a green card can actually apply for or receive it. Because there are annual numerical limits on how many green cards can be issued in each category and from each country, the Visa Bulletin functions as a waiting list management system. It uses "priority dates" (essentially your place in line) to tell applicants when their turn has arrived, with separate queues for different visa categories and countries of origin. For immigrants from high-demand countries, the Visa Bulletin shows how many years they must wait after approval before they can complete their immigration process.
Comparing Visa Processing Times by Country
The Visa Bulletin reveals the stark disparities in waiting times based on an immigrant's country of origin. This is due to the per-country caps established by the Immigration and Nationality Act, which limits any single country to 7% of the total green cards issued annually in any category.
The disparity is particularly stark, for example, when considering the varying wait times for an unmarried adult child of a permanent resident who seeks to immigrate to the United States on a family-based visa (i.e., an F2B Visa). According to recent Visa Bulletins, a 28-year-old unmarried applicant from Germany who filed a petition in March 2017 would likely have his application processed by March 2024–a wait of approximately 7 years. In contrast, a Mexican applicant in identical circumstances who filed in January 2002 would still be waiting in 2024–a wait exceeding 22 years. This means that the German applicant could have completed college, established a career, and immigrated to join his parent(s) in the U.S. before the Mexican applicant's number was even called, despite the Mexican petition being filed 15 years earlier.
In the F2A category (spouses and minor children of permanent residents), an applicant from the United Kingdom or Germany typically faces minimal wait times with "current" status in the Visa Bulletin, meaning they can proceed with their application as soon as it's filed and approved. Meanwhile, applicants from oversubscribed countries face months or years of additional waiting.
Overall, applicants from countries like China, India, the Philippines, and Mexico often encounter significantly longer waits due to per-country limitations. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle where communities from these countries face increasingly longer separation periods, disrupting family units and creating multigenerational impacts.
Discriminatory Aspects of the Employment-Based Immigration System
The employment-based immigration system contains multiple mechanisms that privilege wealth and connections over merit or humanitarian concerns. For example, the EB-5 program explicitly ties immigration status to financial capacity, requiring investments of either $800,000 (in targeted employment areas) or $1,050,000 (in other areas) and the creation of at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers. This program effectively creates a "fast track" to permanent residency for wealthy individuals, allowing them to bypass the lengthy waits that other immigrants face.
A System Embedded with Discrimination
The evident disparities in processing times suggest an inherent bias within the immigration system. If the framework itself discriminates based on nationality and, by extension, race, it calls into question the fairness of the entire system. We all know someone who willfully “advocates” for "legal" immigration but willfully overlooks the significant discrepancies in how immigrants from different countries are treated. The system needs to be adjusted on a more equitable scale to ensure fairness for all applicants.
Equity remains unattainable if reforms occur within the confines of a flawed system. Addressing these disparities requires a comprehensive overhaul that acknowledges and rectifies the biases embedded in immigration policies. We can all advocate for exclusively legal immigration when the system is built to support people regardless of their ethnicity, race, and country of origin.
Creating Equity in the U.S. Immigration System with Effective, Compassionate Legal Support
The U.S. immigration system, while portraying itself as merit-based and family-oriented, contains structural elements that create profound inequalities in access to legal immigration pathways. The combination of per-country caps, preference systems, and wealth-privileging mechanisms ensures that an individual's nationality, family connections, and economic resources often matter more than their personal qualifications or circumstances when determining their immigration prospects.
These systemic disparities challenge the narrative of U.S. immigration as a fair process and raise important questions about reforming the system to better align with principles of equality and non-discrimination. At Justly Prudent, we recognize the challenges posed by these systemic inequities. Our legal team is committed to empowering our clients through education and compassionate legal support.
About the Author
Attorney Jordan D. Howlette is the founder and Managing Attorney of Justly Prudent, a civil rights law firm committed to confronting systemic injustice and holding wrongdoers accountable. Since transitioning from a successful tenure as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Jordan has dedicated his practice to representing individuals and businesses whose civil rights and individual liberties have been violated by public officials and institutions.
Under Jordan’s leadership, Justly Prudent has brought forward high-impact civil rights cases against local governments and agencies for egregious misconduct, including unlawful property seizures, racially discriminatory harassment, and abuses of regulatory power. His litigation strategy blends sharp legal analysis with an unrelenting commitment to equity, ensuring that every client—regardless of their background or resources—has a powerful advocate in their corner.
Jordan’s work has earned recognition for its courage and creativity in advancing justice through the courts. A veteran of the U.S. Army and a cum laude graduate of New England Law | Boston, he brings principled discipline and strategic focus to every case he handles. As Managing Attorney, Jordan continues to build Justly Prudent into a leading voice for civil rights and government accountability across the country.
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