As MeBIC posted previously, 50 CEOs of leading U.S. businesses recently spoke out about how changes in the policies and practices of the administration’s implementation of U.S. immigration law is harming U.S. competitiveness.
Their call is becoming a chorus. A briefing in The Economist analyzing the shifting landscape of Silicon Valley highlighted a dysfunctional immigration environment as one of the key challenges:
More than half of the top American tech companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants…. (t)he Trump administration has brought in rules that severely restrict the number of foreigners who can receive work visas. Some tech firms have experienced delays of up to 18 months for foreign hires whom they might otherwise have been able to bring over swiftly. Students who come to America for degrees increasingly end up going home afterwards, willingly or not. “If you ask me ten years from now why Silicon Valley failed, it will be because we screwed up immigration,” predicts Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins, a venture-capital firm.
This is just one more voice raising the alarm that the administration’s immigration policies are jeopardizing the nation’s economy, joining the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, FWD.us, and MeBIC partner, the New American Economy, among others.
This recent New York Times article underscores that the harmful impact of the administration’s approach to immigration extends far beyond Silicon Valley. Employers and business owners from multiple sectors, ranging from medical and high tech fields to hospitality and agriculture describe their struggles when they can’t get the workers they need.
As these articles point out, those who might want to come to the U.S. to contribute while also reaching for their own “American Dream” are increasingly hitting delays and barriers, leading some to head to Canada and other countries instead. U.S. companies that want to expand or just to survive may have to follow suit.
This prior MeBIC post describes just some of the many ways the administration is putting a stranglehold on immigration without involving Congress, to the detriment of our economy and our heritage. A more detailed description of the administration’s actions appears here.
So far, it doesn’t appear that Washington is listening to the business community, but as the chorus grows louder, perhaps it will.