From TechCrunch
Dear Mr. President: Immigration Reform Won’t Be Enough To Stop The Brain Drain
by Vivek Wadhwa
Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at [the School of Information at] UC Berkeley, Director of Research for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University, and Senior Research Associate for the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School.
In a speech at the American University last Thursday, President Obama highlighted the incredible economic rewards that America has gained from its immigrants. He spoke of new waves of immigrants—from places like Ireland, Italy, Poland, and China—challenging the generations before them, and consequently being subjected to “rank discrimination and ugly stereotypes”. Yet the immigrants kept coming to America. That’s because it was the only land of opportunity. The President wants lawmakers to fix the immigration system so that America can remain globally competitive. But I don’t think it’s that simple. America is no longer the only magnet for the world’s best and brightest. Fixing immigration policy is an important start, but it won’t be enough to stop the brain drain of highly educated and skilled workers that the U.S. is presently experiencing....