I support building a wall. Around bad immigration policies.
This should be interesting.
For those of you who could not care any less about the sham that is the 2016 Presidential Election cycle, something semi-important is tomorrow. Tomorrow is the Iowa Caucus. This serves as a minor event overall, but is generally thought to be a solid indication of who will go on to get their Party’s nomination. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, here’s what it essentially is:
1. There are 2 political parties in the United States. The Democrats and the Republicans. Other parties ‘exist,’ but they really have no say, so they basically don’t.
2. Many people campaign to be president, running under a specific party affiliation. The Democrats have a few candidates, while the Republicans at one point had somewhere around 20.
3. Each party is responsible for picking a candidate that will represent the party on the national stage. This is done through primary elections and caucuses in which citizens who identify with each party, vote for their pick. These citizens, along with high-power politicians in the party, elect a candidate that will go on to face the other party’s pick.
4. Tomorrow is the first big primary/caucus which has historically indicated who will go on to represent each party in the nation presidential election.
TLDR: Tomorrow, we might confirm that it’ll be Clinton v Trump.
Personally, I don’t like either. That refers to the parties and the candidates. I do not care who wins today because I won’t be voting for them in the national election. So why am I ranting about the Iowa Caucus?
Because immigration is an important issue, and both sides are wrong.
This is not about the Syrian refugee crisis, but if you want me to talk about that, I’m willing. This is about immigration in general. This is about keeping America great. (You can’t make something great that already is…)
We need to make it easier for educated people, particularly entrepreneurs, to come and work in the United States. People can debate all they want. Immigrants, and especially educated ones, make a country better and an economy stronger. When an immigrant enters the country legally, they become a consumer and a tax payer. Many immigrants, especially those arriving on H1-B visas awarded to highly skilled workers, earn a lot of money, and therefore pay a lot of taxes, and buy a lot of things. This greatly stimulates the economy. Furthermore, many of these immigrants go on to raise families in the United States, allowing for the development of diverse future generations.
Even more important than attracting post-graduate immigrants is retaining foreign undergraduate talent. If you come to the US on a student F-1 or J-1 visa, you can get a degree, work a little, and then beg for a job at one of the few firms that actually sponsors students for H1-B visas. If you made it into a US college from anywhere in the world, congratulations; that’s a pretty big deal. If you made it into a US college from outside the Unites States, you’re probably ridiculously smart (excluding the rich kids who bought their way into the schools). However, if you are one of these ridiculously smart kids, you are probably still struggling to find work. If you have a great business idea or a new invention, fantastic; your only options are to burn the few months of work you are afforded by the government, or to find an investor that will sponsor you to work. Otherwise, you are breaking the law by working for-profit on a business on a student visa.
The government needs to fix this. I can’t blame firms for not sponsoring people. Visas are expensive. They cost a good chunk of time and money and are a distraction, especially to smaller companies. However, American companies would benefit from foreign talent. Half of NYU is made up of international students (not quite 50%, but it’s a LARGE number). Very talented international students. It is a disservice to America to allow people to come here and be educated by our great schools, and then send the students home to go be brilliant doctors/scientists/artists/actors/tax payers in their home countries. Why are we educating people, and then sending them away when they want to help America grow?
Imagine a kid from Russia comes over, invents an organic, locally-sourced ice cream that helps control blood sugar, and then is told that he has to go back to Russia after graduating. His idea would sell millions and would require him to employ American farmers, manufacturers, and technologists. But he can’t start his company, because he can’t work here. That is a distinct possibility under our current laws. That Russian student wouldn’t be able to go to market with their idea, because the second they make money, it’s no longer a hobby, but it’s a job. The process for the rest of us Americans is that we can try to get a job, or try to create something of our own. If we can’t get a job or don’t want a job, we have the option of starting something of our own. If an immigrant student can’t find an employer who will sponsor them, that’s pretty much it because they aren’t allowed to start something of their own either.
Think of that talent drain! Hundreds of thousands of intelligent, entrepreneurial students willing to start over in the United States; hundreds of thousands of people who will go on to contribute billions in taxes, purchase billions in products and services, and may potentially create millions of jobs over the years, all being told to leave if they can’t magically figure it out.
Back to the Iowa Caucus. I’ll be blunt. The Republican Party is pretty useless here. While trying to protect American jobs and “Make America Great” the party forgot that educated immigrants contribute much more than they take. Yes, illegal immigration is a big issue. That’s a drain on the system. That however should not expand to limiting immigration in general and making it harder for people who want to be here and contribute, be here and contribute. Yes, illegal immigrants do not always create as much value as highly educated legal immigrants, but if we are going to make it hard for legal immigrants to stay and contribute, I think we have a larger problem with immigration itself.
The Democratic Party is certainly more open to immigration, but this does not mean the party has done a great job. While focusing on illegal immigration and providing amnesty for peaceful illegal immigrants, the party has largely ignored the issues legal immigrants face. Students have limited options on their visas, and even when you get an H1-B, you are not on the path to citizenship. You have a limited, approximately 5 year term to prove to the country that you are worth keeping on. Let’s be clear. Illegal immigrants broke the law to get here. Yes, we can say that they probably love America a lot if they broke the law to get here, but they still did break the law. With that in mind, let’s focus a bit more on the people who are here legally, but are still dealing with a broken system.
Even after getting an H1-B, you can spend up to a decade in limbo, waiting for permanent residency. Until you establish permanent residency, you are required to pay to work, on top of the taxes you already owe. This is for someone here legally!
To review, if you are here as a student from another country, no matter how brilliant you are, the United States may be sending you, your ideas, your business concepts, and your money, back home. If you are fortunate enough to be allowed to stay, you will have to pay taxes and another fee to be allowed to contribute to this country.
Here’s an idea America: We let people come into this country to study and work legally. Let’s keep them here after. While you are in college, you should be able to work/intern just like anyone else. If you are an international student with a business idea, you should be allowed to work on that idea throughout college and for at least 1 year after. If you are a small business or a business that hires mostly American citizens, you should be able to hire an international worker with the government providing the visa; you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Let’s create a pathway to citizenship, remembering that it’s pretty hard for LEGAL immigrants to become citizens, let alone illegal ones.
We have a lot to do. Candidates, whoever wins at Iowa and then nationally, get it done right.
This was originally posted on my website, indranilmitra.com. I travel a lot and just got back from Hawaii. I also like food a lot. Follow me on my social media and website for my thoughts, food, travel, and photography! If you liked this piece, please give it a like and share, and follow me for more. I really appreciate all the help!
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