My first reaction to the headlines about President Trump’s proposal to cut immigration in half was that it would be as disastrous as his Muslim ban. But after reading details of the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act (Raise Act), I can’t find a reason to be outraged.
The legislation surely needs to be improved and the numbers of immigrants admitted increased, but it could be good for the country because it gives preference to the job-creators and professionals who have for too long taken a back seat in the debates about comprehensive immigration reform.The president has proposed dramatic changes to U.S. immigration policy, shifting its focus from admitting family members to admitting people based on their skills, English-speaking ability, education, employability, age, achievement, and entrepreneurial initiative. At a news conference announcing the bill, Trump adviser Stephen Miller stressed that the families of present immigrants would be grandfathered in under the new rules but indicated that future immigrants would not be able to sponsor adult children or siblings unless they met the new requirements.
The restriction on families is by no means a good thing, but the focus on bringing in people who contribute to U.S. economic growth surely is. And as far as learning English goes, almost anyone anywhere can now download language-learning apps and watch videos on their smartphones; immigrants should come prepared.
The United States has been experiencing an exodus of highly skilled workers who were frustrated by an immigration system that put them at a disadvantage.
This helped other countries gain a competitive advantage. Chinese Internet companies, such as Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, are among the most innovative and valuable few such companies in the world. Chinese scientists are building advanced artificial-intelligence and gene-editing technologies. Indian engineers are launching sophisticated rockets and creating new platforms for digital currencies. And if you look at the “unicorns,” technology startup firms valued at $1 billion or more, you see that China and India are home to one-third of them, although as recently as 2000, nearly all of…The post Why Trump’s immigration proposal could actually be good for Silicon Valley appeared first on FeedBox.