law offers very limited and often protracted paths to immigration status, permanent residence,24 and naturalization. There is only one dedicated program, “registry,” available for persons that lack immigration status (the “undocumented”). To qualify, an undocumented person must have lived continuously in the United States since January 1, 1972 (at least 48 years), have good moral character, not be ineligible for citizenship, and must be otherwise “admissible.”25 Undocumented persons or temporary residents26 can secure LPR status based on a close family relationship to a US citizen or LPR, through sponsorship by an employer, or if they fit in other, narrower legal categories (Bier 2019, 16). However, family-based immigration is not available to persons without a qualifying family relationship and employment-based immigration is not possible for those without a sponsoring employer or who do not fit the narrow employment preferences, which afford (for example) only 5,000 visas for “unskilled workers” per year. The process of securing a visa can take decades. Application processing times (for approval of a visa) averaged more than 18-months in 2018 and the average wait for a visa to become available for an intending immigrant was five years and eight months in 2018 (Bier 2019). The length of backlogs varies based on “the interplay between numerical limits for all family-based preference categories (226,000) and each preference category [category of qualifying family relationship], per country limits, existing backlogs, and ongoing demand” (Wheeler 2019). For some of the 3.7 million persons mired in backlogs, the projected waiting period is 60 to 70 years (Kerwin and Warren 2019a; Wheeler 2019). Moreover, a person seeking admission or adjustment to LPR status may be found inadmissible as a likely “public charge,” for health-related reasons, for past immigration violations, on criminal or security grounds, and for other reasons.27 The current administration has issued a rule that would significantly expand the “public charge” grounds of inadmissibility (Kerwin, Warren and Nicholson 2018), and a “presidential proclamation” that would deny LPR status to those without qualifying health insurance or who lack the income to obtain it (Gelatt and Greenberg 2019). Immigrants lack health insurance at high rates, typically because their employers do not provide it (ibid.). These measures, if implemented, would block hundreds of thousands of (mostly) lowincome immigrants, particularly those who would otherwise qualify for family-based visas, from securing permanent residence each year (Kerwin and Warren 2019b). To naturalize, applicants must be at least age 18, have been an LPR for at least five years (three years for the spouse of a US citizen), have been continuously present in the United States for at least 30-months of the five years preceding the date of filing, be a person of good moral character, and be attached to the principles of US Constitution.28 They must also be able to speak, read and write in English, and pass a US history and civics test,29 with certain exceptions based on age, 24 LPR status (a “green card”) can be secured through acquiring an “immigrant” visa or “adjustment” in the United States. 25 INA § 249. 26 Temporary residents include “non-immigrants” (admitted for a temporary period and a particular purpose), Temporary Protected Status recipients, and others. 27 INA § 212. 28 INA § 317. 29 INA § 312(a). 12