Schiff touts visa reform
Caltech roundtable focuses on keeping tech grads in U.S.
By Joe Piasecki, joe.piasecki@latimes.com

August 11, 2011 | 6:15 p.m.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) met with a panel of scientists, engineers and technology firm executives Thursday to discuss possible changes to federal immigration policy that could boost American competitiveness in the technology sector.

The session at the California Institute of Technology drew about a dozen participants, including two Caltech Nobel laureates — President Emeritus David Baltimore and chemistry professor Robert Grubbs.

Schiff said he is planning to draft a bill that would make it easier for foreign students in the fields of science and engineering to stay in the U.S. after they graduate and their student visas expire.

“We’ve had graduates in engineering who wanted to stay and start their own businesses, and we probably kicked them out of the country. In this kind of [competitive global] environment, that’s economic suicide,â€