In prior “comprehensive immigration bills,” the amnesties were combined with (at least in theory) tough-minded requirements on illegal immigrants before they got green cards and also with enforcement measures to reduce the need for future amnesties. The reconciliation bill dispenses with any such attempts at balance. Instead, it implements a massive, unadorned amnesty at a time when the border is already out of control, in part because migrants believe, not unreasonably, they will stay in the country once they manage to gain entry.

Moreover, the bill exempts illegal aliens from various grounds for inadmissibility, and gives the secretary of homeland security the authority to waive other grounds.

The bill is just as radical on legal immigration. Among other provisions, it would raise the number of green cards that can be issued by the number of green cards that could have been issued but weren’t since 1992, thus “recapturing” these “unused” visas. It would allow foreign nationals to jump the line and get a green card for a small fee if the wait is longer than two years. It would vitiate the requirement that someone can apply for a green card only if a visa will soon be available. It would admit any winner of the diversity lottery who was blocked from entry by the Trump travel ban or other executive orders over the last four years. It would blow past various caps on family reunification and employment categories.