Our immigration policy should be primarily oriented around our national goals. And one goal is to have the world's most innovative and dynamic economy. It's never going to be the case that each and every one of the planet's most talented individuals is born on U.S. soil. But those born elsewhere could be lured here. People like living here. We should be leveraging that advantage, mercilessly roaming the globe to find the most talented people and attract them to our country - like Dog the Bounty Hunter, but for particularly able foreign physicists. Because when we have the best talent, we have the best innovations. That's how we landed Google, Intel and the atomic bomb. Immigrants are about twice as likely as native-born Americans to start a small business, and they're 30 percent more likely to apply for a patent.
But since 2001, we've gone from offering 195,000 high-skill visas to about 65,000 today. In fact, we let top students come for college or graduate school - and then we don't let them stay. "We should staple a green card to PhDs in science and technology," West says with a sigh. "They'd like to stay here!"
Give me your poor, give me your tired, give me your huddled masses of post-docs yearning to breathe free!
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