There's a lot to be said for the extended family. You could argue that one of sadder aspects of modern America is how so many of us live in nuclear families, without a rich assemblage of uncles and aunts and grandparents and cousins etc. I've no wish to impose our nuclear family concept on those who wish to move here. Their idea is probably better than our concept of parents-children-no one else.
However, if you agree with me that our primary goal with immigration is to help America prosper (both financially and emotionally), we can't just let someone come over, then bring dozens of relatives, with American taxpayers winding up supporting many of them.
How to reconcile these things? I have a proposal I haven't heard anyone else make: when someone applies for a visa with the intent of settling here, that person must list everyone he/she ever wants to bring over. Then we evaluate the group collectively. If the applicant can create an escrow account sufficient to cover everyone's fiscal needs in perpetuity, no problemo. If the group can demonstrate a net profit in productivity for the group, also no problemo. Otherwise, problemo. But it should all be sorted out before the first person comes over in the first place.
Doesn't that sound reasonable?
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