Immigration is a great strength of our Republic. Foreign immigrants enrich our culture, our cuisine, our sports, our science and engineering, and every other positive aspect of American life. By welcoming foreigners to come and live in America, as we now do, we make ourselves richer and better people. It was in great part foreign immigrants that made America a powerhouse of high-technology life. Other countries may produce far more engineers than we do, but when we welcome the best of the best we ensure that their talents will benefit our people.
The march of liberty will ultimately ensure that people everywhere are as free and prosperous as people are here in America. In a completely free and uniformly prosperous world, there will be no reason to keep people from living and working across international borders. We already see that future within the European Union. We'll know that we have reached that wonderful future, because when we do immigration restrictions will no longer be an issue.
A few particular points:
- End racist immigration quotas.
- End H1-B Visa Quotas.
- Student Visas are a Weapon for Liberty.
End racist immigration quotas: We should not have one rule for people born in China and another rule for people born in Lichtenstein. National quotas are thinly disguised race quotas, with rules depending on the color of an immigrant's skin. All immigrants truly belong to one race: the human race. That's the Libertarian message.
A century ago, many Americans were afraid of immigration. They were afraid that our customs and way of life would be buried in a torrent of faces that neither spoke our language nor understood what makes Americans American. Thanks to radio, television, and the internet, new immigrants learn our language and laws far faster than even thirty years ago."
End H1-B Visa Quotas: In a high-tech world, America needs the best talent that money can buy. A half century ago, during what was called the 'brain drain,' Europe's best and brightest moved to America. This meant that our industries and universities benefited enormously from foreign excellence. Now more than ever, America should be open to highly skilled foreign visitors. The H1-B program brings people with extraordinary skills to America. They share those skills with Americans. Quotas barring potential H1-B entrants instead keep those skills abroad, putting American companies at a disadvantage compared with our foreign competitors. Some American companies are forced to open foreign branches, in order to employ the foreigners they cannot bring to America. We should end the H1-B quota system.
This is not to say that the H1-B system is perfect. We should work vigorously to ensure that Americans are as free to work abroad as foreigners are to work here. An H1-B entrant who works well for her company should be allowed to be rewarded with pay increases and title improvements without onerous paperwork. H1-B entrants whose firms re-organize or are purchased, and in which all parties are honoring the terms of the visa, deserve better treatment.
The H1-B program is for visitors. Visa holders are people who plan to return to their native lands. Every one of those people will have lived in America. They will have seen how our way of life brings us unparalleled levels of prosperity and freedom. When they return home, these people become overt agents for the most important Libertarian message: Freedom is the answer. Government of and by the people is the solution.
The H1-B program protects foreign workers. The sponsoring company is required to pay the cost of returning each worker to his or her home country, so American taxpayers are not handed a bill for people stranded in America. The H1-B program is an enormous winner for the American people. Our largest industrial competitor already graduates ten times as many engineers as we do. By bringing the best of the best to America, we ensure that their talents benefit us.
Student Visas are a Weapon for Liberty: We should expand student visa programs. There is no more powerful way to show people our way of life, than to bring them into our country as students. When they go home, foreign students brought to America for undergraduate and advanced degrees become powerful ambassadors for our thinking.
In 1991, my own university had new Russian graduate students. To help them acclimate to America, we walked them through a small local supermarket. Their jaws would drop. Later they would say 'I saw that, and I knew Russia had lost the cold war'. That's the benefit of bringing students to America. They learn about our country, our customs, and the richness of our life.
