There's certainly an argument to be made that they concept of a “permanent resident alien” is a an elaborate circumlocution for “disenfranchized citizen”, and that permanent residence and citizenship ought to be intrinsically linked (not saying I necessarily agree, but I've certainly seen a reasonable argument made), but there is a difference between ought to be and is.

I'm not american so very open to being wrong on this.

They're also immigrants. We're debating curbs on immigration. If those curbs continue to be implemented, people like those immigrants will not be future Americans.

It's far from citizenship.