&gt; the US for 6 years, a person has to wait another 10 years to reap the benefits of permanent residency simply because they were born in a particular country is morally indefensible<p>When phrased that way, sure it feels that way.<p>But it&#x27;s not because you are born in a specific country, it&#x27;s because your country of origin has a lot of people who are attempting to immigrate to the US, and each country is capped.<p>Imagine if they lifted that policy, then countries like Mexico, India, China would lock out pretty much any other country from immigrating to the US. Add in the Amnesty program for undocumented workers, and you could imagine that nearest neighbors to the US would lock everyone else out.<p>So instead of penalizing Indians (in this case), you&#x27;ve now penalized everyone else.<p>What system, given a fixed number of applicants, would not apply some sort of penalty by proxy?<p>Contrast that to pre-1960&#x27;s where laws <i>SPECIFICALLY</i> targeted blacks american citizens.<p>The US has no moral requirement to treat non-us citizens 100% the same as it does it&#x27;s citizens. Yes they have perhaps lived in the US for 6 years, and paid US Taxes. They have also enjoyed a certain level of comfort afforded them, that they presumably would not have had in their native country.