The media have focused on the fate of 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants who will get the chance at citizenship if the Senate immigration bill, S. 2611, passes. Evidently they are overlooking a much bigger issue, namely the massive increase in legal immigration visas which the Senate bill proposes.

Sen. Jeff Sessions studied the long-term impact of the current Senate bill and concluded that over 20 years that bill will add an additional 100 million people to our population (workers plus extended family members).

Then I read that Professor Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation estimates that the Senate bill would add anywhere between 72 million and 193 million new immigrants over the next 20 years, depending upon how much businesses will use a newly created H2-C visa for bringing in new workers.

I don’t know for sure what numbers are most accurate, but we shouldn’t be passing any immigration legislation that increases immigration at these levels without consulting the American public. We need journalists to read that bill and tell us the truth. Tell us just what are the long-term population effects.

Elaine Ward

Bangor