George Rebane

The Washington Post recently reported (‘They’re Taking Their Brains and Going Home’)  on one of the many unnecessary travesties sweeping our country.  While printing money and debating amnesty for illegal aliens who violate our borders and immigration laws, there is a valuable cohort of legal aliens who are going home in droves after being trained here, creating enormous value here, and being hassled by our government here.  The prestigious Association for Computing Machinery summarizes the situation this way –

The United States has long been a mecca of educational and employment opportunities for the best and brightest that the world has to offer, but many immigrants are returning to their homelands as the prospects for productive careers in the U.S. flag. This trend is being driven by the growth of overseas economies and a U.S. immigration system riddled with red tape, writes Vivek Wadhwa, executive in residence at Duke University. “When smart young foreigners leave these shores, they take with them the seeds of tomorrow’s innovation,” he writes. Wadhwa points out that nearly a quarter of all international patent applications filed from the United States in 2006 named foreign nationals as inventors, while 50 percent of the Silicon Valley engineering and technology companies founded between 1995 and 2005 were started by immigrants. Wadhwa also notes that as of Sept. 30, 2006, more than 1 million people were waiting for the 120,000 permanent-resident visas granted annually to skilled workers and their family members. Impatient and frustrated by being consigned to this limbo, many prospective residents are going home or elsewhere, where better employment opportunities exist. Wadhwa conducted a survey of 1,200 Indians and Chinese who worked or studied in the United States and then went home, and learned that 80 percent held master’s degrees or doctorates in management, technology, or science. A significant percentage said that they have made substantial career advancements since leaving the United States, and Wadhwa observes that talented immigrants have often held crucial staff positions at U.S. laboratories, engineering design studios, and tech companies. “Immigrants who leave the United States will launch companies, file patents, and fill the intellectual coffers of other countries,” he concludes. “Their talents will benefit nations such as India, China, and Canada, not the United States.”

Recall that our kids no longer like to take subjects that are hard and can bruise your self-esteem – along with our yard care, field vegetables, and wealth generating technology, we leave most of that work to foreigners.  Please take the time to contact your representatives on Capitol Hill and ask them to resume a more normal stance on this issue, one that promotes good posture and lets them see what they are doing – use nice words and a reasoned format if you can.