An Open Letter to Congress

You Must Tell Congress to Unfreeze Immigration Now.

The law to fix over 75% of immigration cases has been in place since 1929. It grants status based on how long someone has lived here — and that requirement has been frozen at fifty-four years since 1972. It doesn't need to be replaced. It needs one date updated.

Tell Congress to Act Now Read the Open Letter

Four minutes to read. Ten minutes to send.

The law is already in place. It has been since 1929.

Congress does not need to replace it. Congress needs to update one date.

A Bipartisan History

Congress has done this before.

Five presidents — three Republicans and two Democrats — kept the law current. Each one set the date backward, because the date is the residency requirement.

1929

Calvin Coolidge

R

Set cutoff to June 3, 1921

8 years of residence required

1940

Franklin D.
Roosevelt

D

Set cutoff to July 1, 1924

16 years required

1958

Dwight D.
Eisenhower

R

Set cutoff to June 28, 1940

18 years required

1965

Lyndon B.
Johnson

D

Set cutoff to June 30, 1948

17 years required

1986

Ronald Reagan

R

Set cutoff to January 1, 1972

14 years required

How the Registry Date Works

The date is not a starting line. It is a residency requirement.

Registry has never been about when a law takes effect. It is about how long a person has lived here. Congress writes that requirement as a fixed date instead of a number of years.

When Coolidge signed it in 1929 and set the date to 1921, he was saying: you must have been here at least eight years.

When Reagan signed it in 1986 and set the date to 1972, he was saying: you must have been here at least fourteen years.

The key point

Every president set the date backward. That backward gap is the requirement. It is the proof that a person has put down roots.

The problem is that a fixed date stops working the moment Congress stops updating it. Reagan's fourteen-year requirement is now a fifty-four-year requirement — and it grows by one year every January. Nobody voted for that. It is simply what happens when a date is left frozen.

This law has been on the books for almost a century.
Five presidents kept it current. Then it was overlooked for forty years.

It doesn’t need a debate. It needs simple housekeeping— one date updated—to fix over 75% of immigration cases.

Tell Congress to Act Now

Five Presidents. Both Parties. The Same Simple Action.

They signed the law and moved the eligibility date forward. Now Congress must do it again to unfreeze immigration.

1929

Calvin
Coolidge

Signed and moved
the date forward

1940

Franklin D.
Roosevelt

Signed and moved
the date forward

1958

Dwight D.
Eisenhower

Signed and moved
the date forward

1965

Lyndon B.
Johnson

Signed and moved
the date forward

1986

Ronald
Reagan

Signed and moved
the date forward

Coolidge signed the Registry Act on March 2, 1929, two days before leaving office.

You know your crew. You know who has been there ten years, fifteen, twenty. You trained them. You promoted them. You built your schedule around them.

And right now they are afraid to come to work.

You cannot replace that. Not with a job posting, not at any wage, not in this labor market. Every week this law stays frozen is another week your business runs short-handed on people who want to be there.

This is not a policy debate. It is a date on a law Ronald Reagan signed.

One letter from a business owner carries more weight in a congressional office than a hundred letters from strangers. Your representative can dismiss an activist. They cannot dismiss the person who signs paychecks in their district.

Tell Congress to Act Now

You do not need to discuss any employee. Write about your business, your industry, and your county.

Help Move the Date

We’ll send the letter for you. Tell Congress to act now.

Your personal letter shows Congress that constituents want the frozen 1972 cutoff brought up to date. We prepare your one-page letter, identify your elected officials, and mail each copy only after you approve it.

Why set the date backward at all? Why not just today?

Because the date is the residency requirement. Setting it to today would mean nobody qualifies. Setting it seven years back means only people who have been here seven years or more can apply — the same structure Congress used five times before, with a shorter window than any president except Coolidge.

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“I am a Republican and I run a business in this county. This law needs to be updated, and I do not think most people know it exists.”
“I have owned a construction company here for 22 years. The uncertainty is hurting my ability to staff jobs and bid work. Congress should fix the date.”
“I had never heard of this law until last week. Neither had anyone I told. Five presidents kept it current and then it was just forgotten.”
“My family has been in this district for three generations. The people I am asking you to help have been my neighbors longer than some of my own relatives.”
“I run a restaurant. I cannot hire my way out of this and neither can anyone else in my industry. This is a labor issue before it is anything else.”
“Reagan signed the last update. I am asking you to do the same simple housekeeping he did.”

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[DATE]

The Honorable [MEMBER FULL NAME]

[OFFICE ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Dear [REPRESENTATIVE / SENATOR] [LAST NAME] :

I am your constituent, and I am writing to ask you to support updating the eligibility date in Section 249 of the Immigration and Nationality Act — the immigration registry, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1259.

This is not a request for a new law. The registry has been on the books since 1929. Congress updated its eligibility date five times, under Presidents Coolidge, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Johnson, and Reagan. The last update came in 1986 and set the cutoff at January 1, 1972. Congress has not touched it since.

The result is a working provision of federal law that almost no living applicant can use. To qualify today, a person must have lived here continuously since before 1972 — more than fifty years ago.

The registry does not grant status automatically. It requires an individual application and a discretionary decision, and it examines continuous residence, good moral character, admissibility, and any serious criminal or national-security concerns. Updating the date changes none of those requirements. It only allows the government to examine cases the law currently cannot reach at all.

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I am asking you to support legislation replacing the frozen 1972 cutoff with a current standard, and to tell me your position in writing.

One date. One amendment. A law that is capable of reaching a decision.

Respectfully,

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[SENDER STREET ADDRESS]

[SENDER CITY, STATE ZIP]

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The Full Case

Our Open Letter to Congress

Read the full argument for updating the immigration registry date and the action Congress can take.

The open letter explains the history, the law, and why the registry should be capable of reaching a decision again.

Read the Open Letter Opens the full PDF

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