Should America only let educated immigrants in?

cptcanuck2

According to free trade economics the answer is no, and the illegal immigrants have already proven it by filling millions of laboring jobs and displacing Americans up the wage scale.

I took a brief look at your link. It says at least one immigrant founder is present in 25.3% of high-tech companies. Great. God bless them; however, you are using statistics like a girl's bikini. Have you ever been to an engineering faculty? It's not hard to notice that foreign grad students are disproportionately present, so it would be not be a surprise that they go on to found their share of companies. Your statistic doesn't tell us if foreign immigrants are more likely than a native American to found a company. Even those high-tech companies rely on a lot of laborers. You need 1 genius to make the computer program and then laborers to manufacture it, package it, and ship it.

Laboring jobs are great stepping stones to higher skilled jobs anyways. What's wrong with coming to America to get skills and an education. What's wrong with foreigners offering Americans, well, what they offer each other. Why be hypocritical by holding immigrants to higher standards than Americans. Of course the reason is Americans have a bias against foreigners.

The market is perfectly capable of deciding what workers should work where.

Just because higher educated people are less likely to be unemployed doesn't mean the U.S. will not always need a high proportion of laborers, and your idea will never change that. It is just a trick to limit immigration to a trickle of people thereby increasing world poverty and ironically lowering the educational level of the world because of less affordability.

A lot of these people's education doesn't get recognized anyways. We have doctors driving cabs in Canada. It would be better to bring immigrants here at 18 years old and let them get their education here. High school marks have always been highly indicative of how someone will do in university anyways.

Also, after you let in 1 Ph D, they are going to bring their whole uneducated family to the U.S., so your idea completely falls apart that way anyways.

Economies need all classes of workers not a brain drain. When I see laborers shoveling snow in the Wal-Mart parking lot, I don't say those workers are not needed. Even if we all had 10 PhDs each, someone would always be forced to do that job because it simply has to be done.

Note: I enjoy arguing about restricted immigration for the same reason I enjoy arguing Creationism with the Mormons at my door. Because I know restricted immigration is the biggest load of crap I've ever been presented. Economists have always said free migration for the world raises world productivity. That's it. That decides it.

shilo9i

Well, they should at least have better grammar than you...

kittysue2000

The US should institute a points system like Australia, UK, etc based on education level, age, salary, English language fluency and money in the bank. During the first 5 years, you are not allowed to receive any social benefits (unemployment, housing benefits, etc) and cannot renew your visa to stay unless you stay employed at a minimum salary level.

That way, anyone wanting to come would need an education and be able to speak English, no matter if they came from China, Mexico or Sweden.

GreasyTony

NO! because even educated immigrants won't do the back breaking work in America.

LV-Gnome

Not when some visa categories don't look at education at all, specifically when it comes to family.

Changing it to require a certain level of education from only an approved school would mean limiting an American's choices in who he/she can marry etc - kinda goes against the Constitution.

Fred

Yes, after all, the plaque on the statue of liberty reads "Bring us your tired, cold, huddled masses... But only if you have a BA"

The Wise

Let's one up that and deport American citizens who are uneducated and unintelligent in order to make room.

Let's start with Rush.

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