Bill Gates is completely right: America should welcome highly skilled immigrants with open arms.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said on Tuesday the United States should reform its immigration laws and give more flexibility to higher-skilled foreign workers. ...Gates, who runs a foundation with his wife that is the world's largest charity, said flexibility of movement for higher-skilled workers was especially important for his global company.
"I think every country in the world should make it easier for people with high skills to come in," he said.
This seems obvious. Ideally, all the smart people in the world would come here. The problem is that unskilled, uneducated workers flagrantly violate our immigration laws by the millions, while America simultaneously puts up roadblocks that impede the entrance of highly-skilled workers. This is the exact opposite of what we should be doing.
Isn't there a system in place for that? That is, the university system. But the "highly skilled" folks - mathematicians, scientists, & engineers - also are not trusted to work in many of the positions for which they have studied, when those positions are funded somehow by the defense department (which many of them are), and so must return to their own countries upon graduation, leaving American industries with a weaker pool of talent. Also, patriot act bureaucracy makes it enough of a pain for some of the students to do their work here that they just leave for england or france, or wherever, where they can actually visit home without waiting for a permit that would allow them to reliably return.
michellen: I don't think a very high percentage of people work in the defense industry, certainly not on classified programs. Those that do, however, should certainly be required to qualify for a security clearance.