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America’s “Brain Gain” from Immigration

Posted July 27, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

This is the third of five blogs on the new report from the Council on Foreign Relations about immigration policy.
As noted in Part 2, the report sought to weigh the advantages and disadvantages to the United States economy of immigration. While the popular image of the immigrant is of a low-skilled worker, the report points out that more than one-quarter of immigrants have a bachelor’s degree, or higher. Immigration has ” brought…an inordinate share of the world’s best talent…There is no question that the U.S. has enjoyed an enormous brain gain from immigration”. The report also notes that 25% of America’s patents go to immigrant innovators and that a quarter of all new engineering and tech companies were started by immigrants.
The Council on Foreign Relations claims that some of the steps taken in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to counter terrorist infiltration into the United States have made the country less secure by damaging our economy and our standing abroad. According to the report, the “creation of the Department of Homeland Security accentuated an unfortunate tendency to define U.S. security in terms of who is kept out of the country rather than who is let in.” This enforcement regime has diminished America’s strength in technology.
It has also reduced our standing in world opinion. One of the best forms of diplomacy is to allow people from all over the world to see how the U.S. functions themselves. By erecting ridiculous barriers to entry, and by employing border practices that are seen as rude and discriminatory, the U.S. is throwing away the goodwill of many people trying to visit here or immigrate. According to the report, “the bad experiences that individuals may have while attempting to travel to the United States reverberate among their friends and families, damaging the perception of the United States as a country that welcomes foreigners.”
And the way the U.S. has treated undocumented immigrants has been greeted with horror in many other countries. The report provides a cogent analysis of the harm ICE, as well as anti-immigrant pundits, do to America’s image:
For many in poorer countries, those who have braved the journey to reach the United States in an effort to better themselves and support their families at home are considered heroes. That many Americans see…those same individuals as criminals is baffling to them.” The report, while acknowledging that the U.S. has the right to determine who enters the country, says that even those who violate the rules must be treated with “respect and fairness”.
These immigrants often play a major part in poor countries’ development. Honduras, for example, derives 25% of its GDP from immigrants sending money home to support family members.
The report also calls for a reconsideration of the treatment of legal immigrants who are arrested for minor crimes. In many cases, they are deported even if the crime occurred years ago and did not result in serious jail time. The report calls for allowing judges greater discretion in handling these cases. Deportation can leave American-born children behind to be raised in a permanently disrupted family, often in dire poverty.
Unintended consequences of our toughened immigration stance are many. For example, when the U.S. beefed up border protections following the 9/11 attacks, it interfered with circular migration patterns. Workers who illegally came from Mexico in the past for seasonal work typically returned home at the end of the harvest. Now they were trapped in the U.S. Not wanting to be separated from their families, they brought in their spouses and children. Tough enforcement actually increased the number of immigrants living illegally in the U.S.!
With a broken system, the Council on Foreign Relations next turned to the solutions. Read about their recommendations in my next installment.
Read Part 1 of this series.

Tags : council on foreign relations, employment-based immigration, immigration reform

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