Thread: Reverse Legal Immigration Jeopardizes U.S. Economy

Reverse Legal Immigration Jeopardizes U.S. Economy

The New American
Written by Rebecca Terrell
Tuesday, 22 September 2009

While the U.S. Border Patrol has its hands full trying to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into our country, a Duke University professor says the nation is in danger of losing too many legal immigrants to their native homelands.

Vivek Wadhwa describes this reverse legal immigration of skilled workers as a "brain drain" that is hitting America for the first time in its history.

"What was a trickle has become a flood," he said, predicting that 100,000 legal immigrants will go back to India and the same number to China within the next five years.

One of the lures for these talented individuals is the rapid economic growth of these countries, but Wadhwa says it means the U.S. faces losing its competitive edge in fields like science and technology.

Other experts agree. Suren Dutia is the CEO of TiE Global, an organization that promotes worldwide entrepreneurship. He says, "If the country is going to maintain the kind of economic well-being that we’ve enjoyed for many years, that requires having these incredibly gifted, highly skilled individuals who have been educated and trained by us."

Wadhwa recently surveyed more than 1,000 legal immigrants who have returned to China and India.

According to the survey, it would be a mistake to think of the exodus as a temporary trend due to the faltering U.S. economy, because respondents said their decisions had more to do with career opportunities, low-skilled illegal immigrants in the U.S., and greatly improved quality of life and purchasing power in their native lands, as well as cultural factors.

In fact, China is actively recruiting expatriates/legal immigrants, offering incentives such as financial assistance and housing.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Wang Baodong, explained, "China needs a lot of well-trained personnel."

Many survey respondents also expressed irritations with the immigration process in the United States.

"They're frustrated with having an uncertain immigration status," explains Lynn Shotwell, executive director of the American Council on International Personnel.

Instead of waiting up to a decade for permanent residency, they are "giving up," she says.

The United States sets a quota on the number of highly skilled worker visas it grants each year, so there are not enough for all of the applicants from India and China.

Applications for green-card status made before April 16, 2001 are only now in process.

While they are waiting for permanent status, legal immigrants are restricted in international travel and in their ability to get promotions.

Meanwhile, opportunities are opening up in their more familiar and inviting homelands.

The International Monetary Fund predicts a 7.5 percent growth this year in China’s gross domestic product (GDP) and a 5.4 percent expansion of India’s. On the other hand, the U.S. GDP will likely shrink by 2.6 percent.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php ... us-economy

--if indeed these learned people return to their homelands and use their knowledge and skills to improve the economy there, they will create a bigger market and a stronger economy in those countries. The unskilled, who currently migrate to the USA, will find work in the growing economies of their countries eliminating the need to come here to find work.

As the economy of those countries improves, so too, with effort, can the lot of those who emigrate (illegally) to other countries. A better economy in those countries will provide a bigger market place for American products. (Not that we make any products anymore.)

This should make globalists bery happy except for the fact that they will have failed to destroy America before they rejuvenated their own countries. Oh, wait--it is not them who are trying to destroy America. Our own liberal self loathing Americans want to do that.

Sounds like someone is trying to create another disaster (SARC) to fool us into believeing we are not giving enough to foreignors or handing out enough visa's fast enough!!...Please let us expierence the loss and just see how many Americans can go back to work!