Thread: U.S. needs more legal foreign workers, not fewer SDUT

Land of immigrants / U.S. needs more legal foreign workers, not fewer
By San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board,

Monday, March 29, 2010 at 12:05 a.m.

One would expect former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to have a thoughtful approach to the immigration issue. Both his father, George Romney, and his grandfather, Gaskell Romney, were born in Mexico. His great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, fled the United States and crossed the southern border in 1884 to escape religious persecution. The result was the Mormon enclave of Colonia Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. So this family knows what it’s like to have to leave your country behind and gamble on the promise of brighter days down the road.

Romney hit the right notes during a recent radio interview when he claimed that U.S. immigration policy isn’t just broken, but upside down. We have plenty of illegal immigrants doing low-skilled work, he said. And yet we make it hard for people who come to the United States legally to study or work to remain here and become productive members of society.

So true. People from around the world come to study in U.S. universities on temporary visas. They often excel in class and earn their degrees with ease. But after graduation, many of them beat a path back to their home countries instead of settling in the United States. Just when these people enter their high-productivity years – when they generate income, consume goods and pay taxes – we send them home. It doesn’t make any sense.

We’ve heard this same complaint for years from the CEO’s of high-tech companies – including San Diego’s own Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm – who have pleaded with Congress to increase the annual allotment of H-1B visas for high-skilled workers. Currently, only about 65,000 H-1B visas are granted each year.

That number is shamefully low for a country of 300 million people. And that’s just to get here. Staying here is another ordeal. Some CEO’s say that, when an international student graduates from a four-year institution or graduate program, he or she should get a green card stapled to the diploma.

That’s a great idea. Aren’t these exactly the kind of people we should be trying to attract to our shores and retain once they get here? At the very least, Congress should make it easier for legal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.

If this sounds like common sense, we’re glad. It doesn’t to everyone. Believe it or not, there is – in this land of immigrants – a well-organized lobby working to keep legal immigrants out of the country right along with the illegal variety. The activists fighting that battle talk about economic competition, overcrowding, even environmental impact. Often times, what they’re really concerned about is changing demographics and cultural friction.

This is wasted energy. In our eagerness to rid the country of illegal immigration, we must not make the mistake of also getting rid of one of our most valuable imports and greatest hopes for economic prosperity: legal immigrants.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... editorial/

Non-citizens should NOT be allowed to work in the U.S.

until every American citizen who wants a job has a job. IMO

I wish the traitors responsible for publicizing ridiculous editorials like this had the balls to put their real names on it.

W

People from around the world come to study in U.S. universities on temporary visas. They often excel in class and earn their degrees with ease. But after graduation, many of them beat a path back to their home countries instead of settling in the United States. Just

I thought that was the rational behind the student visa program all along. To allow foreign students the opportunity to come to this country, earn their degrees and take that education back to their countries and put it to good use by building those nations.

I guess according to the San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board, that's not the case....

Nobueno, you are absolutely correct. America historically has generated fewer STEM jobs than needed to absorb the American STEM graduates. Inviting foreign students to stay here and compete with American graduates has been disastrous, and has been one of the reasons American students have been thinking twice about majoring in these fields.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

I wish the traitors responsible for publicizing ridiculous editorials like this had the balls to put their real names on it.

W

Here is the guy to ask:

William Osborne, Managing Editor of Editorial and Opinions

bill.osborne@uniontrib.com
(619) 293-1395

It astounds me that Romney was elected to office, and for the SDUT editorial board to be that stupid is equally perplexing. These guys think CA's and this country's resources are unlimited. Since California has droughts, there a water wars. Throw in the budget crisis (with all the social programs that need to be funded), the overcrowded roads and housing, the gangs and drug cartels, etc. How much more pressure do these guys think this nation and California can stand in growth? Tsk, tsk! They should not done so many hallucinogens in college, because apparently the trip has not worn off.

80% of recent college grads cannot find work. Many are in graduate schools, racking up more debt, hoping the job market will improve when they get out. Many others are working in jobs where they are underemployed, working part time, working for free on intern status, or unable to work and living at home. These people are not even counted because they are not eligible for unemployment.

So how's this global free trade, outsourcing, insourcing one world order working for us?

I shudder to think if Mitt Romney was elected what we would be facing without the mounting objections of our unknowing public. How come this is the first time I heard that he was from Mexico?

Originally Posted by NoBueno

People from around the world come to study in U.S. universities on temporary visas. They often excel in class and earn their degrees with ease. But after graduation, many of them beat a path back to their home countries instead of settling in the United States. Just

I thought that was the rational behind the student visa program all along. To allow foreign students the opportunity to come to this country, earn their degrees and take that education back to their countries and put it to good use by building those nations.

I guess according to the San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board, that's not the case....

The haters of our American way of life detest losing any chance at further diminishing Americans. To destroy us we must be overwhelmed and invaded.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

They often excel in class and earn their degrees with ease.

There have been stories of the exact opposite! Foreign students have been caught with fabricated backgrounds that have been used to enter PhD programs meant for qualified American students, fake resumes have been used to secure university jobs and teaching positions, identity theft has been used to work at jobs off campus and many students have been caught cheating on exams; in some cases "cheating" and other fraud is an expected part of a foreign culture where getting a foothold in the "American Dream" means using any and every tool against American society.

When I was at Michigan State University, I was once told by a professor that everyone dreaded having Iranian students in their classes; they looked down on Americans and refused to do the work assigned. When this lead to academic failure it was laughed off like school was one big party.

These stupid stereotypes of "Americans are bad students and foreigners are good students" need to end.