"We used to be a melting pot but now seem to have some trouble with that" - Alan Greenspan told USA Today last week, referring to the increasing lack of skilled foreign workers as a result of the insufficient H1-B quotas set by the US government. Currently, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) caps the US work permits for foreigners at 65,000 per year. 150,000 applications were filed in a matter of 48 hours between April 2nd and 4th of this year for those 65,000 spots in 2008. The lucky winners will be selected randomly. Given the booming demand for engineers in Silicon Valley and highly skilled workers elsewhere in the US, limiting the number of foreigners looking for employment in the US seems to be woefully misguided.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates suggested dropping the quota completely in his address to the US Senate on March 7th. He's absolutely right. A recent study called Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs points out that highly skilled immigrants make significant contributions to the economic development of California, as opposed to taking jobs away from native-born workers. Anna Lee Saxenian who conducted the study found that high-tech businesses run by foreign-born workers account for more than $16.8 billion in sales and over 58,000 jobs.
Immigration is such a complex and sensitive issue that none of the US Presidential Candidates have taken a stance on it, despite intense media attention on the topic. The "Melting Pot" is one those unique qualities that makes the US vibrant, competitive, and globally appealing. We should be looking for ways to strengthen it rather than seeing it disappear in our lifetimes.
