Thread: Immigration vital to economy: Google founder's mom says we n

Immigration vital to economy: Google founder's mom says we need a flow of fresh talent from overseas

New York Daily News
By Gideon Aronoff and Genia Brin
November 12th 2009

Immigrants - and immigration - have provided significant fuel for America's growth and prosperity since the beginning days of our country. American values and beliefs; businesses and homes, and military and infrastructure have been shaped by the millions of immigrants who have arrived on our shores over the centuries. Unfortunately, the current national debate over immigration often has become so bitter that an important fact has been obscured: Immigrants contribute a wealth of new strengths and ideas to America.

Some, like Genia's son Sergey, co-founder of Google, literally will change the world. Assisted by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Brins came to America in 1979, hoping to escape the repression and persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union. Without the nurturing education and system of free enterprise that Sergey experienced growing up here, it is questionable whether Google would even exist today. Others - like the immigrant founders and co-founders of Intel, Sun Microsystems, eBay and Yahoo! - also will make contributions that will change both our country and the world in incalculable ways.

Not all immigrants will end up as technology superstars. Most will apply themselves to improving the lives of their families. In doing so, they become the key to our economic recovery.

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity reports that immigrant women are starting businesses at a rate 57% higher than native-born women, and immigrant men are starting businesses at a rate 71% higher than native-born men. New businesses mean new jobs, and that, more than anything, is what our economy needs. The index also reports that the increase in immigrants starting businesses between 2007 and 2008 focused on those of low and medium income.

Smaller businesses often are started by immigrant families who pool their resources to run these businesses as a unit. The mutual support families provide one another enable small businesses to thrive, creating even more jobs. Although suggestions to increase the number of visas for skilled workers are valid, with family unity as key to the economic success of new immigrants, it is critical that this increase not come at the expense of available family visas.

As for immigrant workers' affect on native workers' ability to obtain jobs and living wages, the Immigration Policy Center has observed that immigrants mostly complement - rather than compete with - native workers because of their unique education and skill sets, as well as the interdependency of their jobs. This is because immigrants are strongly concentrated in jobs that demand either extremely high skills or very few skills, filling employment needs unmet by native workers at each end of the employment spectrum.

The energy and industriousness of immigrants is the stuff of American legend. The dollar value that immigrants add to the economy is measured in figures that would be unimaginable to those who arrived in the great waves of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that immigration adds $37 billion to U.S. Gross Domestic Product each year. Plus, all documented immigrants - as well as many undocumented workers - pay the same taxes as other taxpayers. Their contributions help schools, roads, bridges, libraries and other public services.

Yet none of these economic benefits of immigration are sustainable under our current outdated and restrictive immigration laws. At the moment, legislative proposals pending in Congress include bills to reunite immigrants with their spouses and children, who currently are waiting years to join their family members in the United States; give undocumented immigrant students access to legal status and a chance to serve our country in the military or pursue higher education, and legalize undocumented farmworkers. These should be enacted quickly, but they are only the start on the road to a more just and compassionate immigration system that supports and encourages immigrants rather than deters and discourages them.

We need immigrants from all socioeconomic backgrounds - from the giants who have built and created the technology sector to the average worker - as much as they need the freedom and opportunity that America provides. And if the past is any indication of the future, we will see many more immigrants giving back to society in ways that are truly remarkable. They are the fuel that fires our economic engines.

Let us offer them the opportunity that so many of us first- and second-generation Americans had. It is time for us to enact comprehensive immigration reform so that we once again are a nation that is welcoming to all who want to contribute. It is the right thing to do and nothing less than our economic future may depend on it.

Gideon Aronoff is president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the international migration agency of the American Jewish community. Genia Brin sits on the board of HIAS and is the mother of Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/200 ... overy.html

illegal aliens take out more than they contribute to the system. In other words, They milk the system to the point of making it's milk jugs sore.

Stupid reasoning. We need to give American jobs to the American people only. We have great minds and talent here we don't need to go oversea's to get it. This is all about greed, money and power.

Google is just basically a search engine. There have been many search engine, but google just dominated the market. If google never existed, then one of the other search engines would have come to the forefront instead of google....and hired just as many people. Btw, google was not the first search engine, so they did not invent search engines, and so I fail to see how they "changed the world" or contributed to our culture in any meaningful way. And when it comes to jobs, do they hire Americans? Or do they have visa workers? I believe they have a high number of visa workers, so they actually helped to contribute to the downfall of the culture.

Legal Immigration not ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS...2 different things...

Kathyet

When I decide to allow a search engine to run my life, Google will not be on the list!

Not all immigrants will end up as technology superstars. Most will apply themselves to improving the lives of their families. In doing so, they become the key to our economic recovery.

Wait, aren't those the same immigrants already here and yet our economy has tanked? That's not even adding illegal alien immigrants to the mix. If immigrants, be they legal or illegal, send more money out of the US than they spend in the US, our economy will never recover.

"“anti-immigrant rhetoric"? Anti-ILLEGAL rhetoric would be correct. The United States has always welcomed refugees and Legal immigrants; the problem in the United States has to do with ILLEGALS invading our nation with out any genuine desire to assimilate as citizens but only obtain citizenship in an effort to steal from our treasury and take jobs from citizens sending their ill gotten gains back to their home countries while planning their return. Immigrants should NOT be offended but I can see how ILLEGALS and their Elitist Special Interest Groups should feel a little foreign. Predictable, for a LACK of defensible arguments Special Interest Groups benefiting from the ILLEGALS always fall back on name calling, attacking anyone who disagrees attempting to label them as racists."

Originally Posted by roundabout

When I decide to allow a search engine to run my life, Google will not be on the list!

It's Dogpile.com for me

AprilM1967 wrote:

Wait, aren't those the same immigrants already here and yet our economy has tanked? That's not even adding illegal alien immigrants to the mix. If immigrants, be they legal or illegal, send more money out of the US than they spend in the US, our economy will never recover.

Here are your up to date stats from Dogpile.com

ImmigrationCounters.com provides the key numbers resulting from illegal immigration in the United States. Using the latest government and private sources, research and analysis trending data is factored at their individual rates of increase. Topic related links are provided for you to become more informed about illegal immigration in America. For information about the research behind the individual counters, click here Data Sources. ImmigrationCounters.com supports legal immigration and respect for all humanity, yet highlights the significant weight and security risks of massive illegal immigration resulting from poor governmental controls and unscrupulous employers. Please share this information with your elected representatives, local officials and others.

http://www.immigrationcounters.com/

Kathyet

Originally Posted by kathyet

Originally Posted by roundabout

When I decide to allow a search engine to run my life, Google will not be on the list!

It's Dogpile.com for me

AprilM1967 wrote:

Wait, aren't those the same immigrants already here and yet our economy has tanked? That's not even adding illegal alien immigrants to the mix. If immigrants, be they legal or illegal, send more money out of the US than they spend in the US, our economy will never recover.

Here are your up to date stats from Dogpile.com

[quote:1fnw0not]
ImmigrationCounters.com provides the key numbers resulting from illegal immigration in the United States. Using the latest government and private sources, research and analysis trending data is factored at their individual rates of increase. Topic related links are provided for you to become more informed about illegal immigration in America. For information about the research behind the individual counters, click here Data Sources. ImmigrationCounters.com supports legal immigration and respect for all humanity, yet highlights the significant weight and security risks of massive illegal immigration resulting from poor governmental controls and unscrupulous employers. Please share this information with your elected representatives, local officials and others.

http://www.immigrationcounters.com/

Kathyet[/quote:1fnw0not]

I agree; I don’t need to be convinced. This is why it is important to comment at the individual source articles level even though it may seem redundant to the commenter; the Citizens reading the articles and comments may have never been exposed to the points we attempt to communicate and they may find that most who comment from around our country believe as they do and they are not alone.