As I've argued in these pages, it is a disaster for the United States that we have so few H-1B visas available for high-skill foreign workers who want to become part of the American economy. We spend years educating foreigners, especially in technical fields, and then refuse their requests to work here. Instead we say "No, go back to Bangalore or Taipei and compete against us with what you've learned here."

It is truly insane from an economic point of view. America was made great by immigrants. The current nativist trends within both political parties, but especially the GOP, represents the worst of American narrow-mindedness and a complete lack of an understanding of history.

Most Americans understand the benefits of immigration as common sense and part of the American dream. Still, it is good to see some actual data on the economic benefit to our country of immigrants, in particular immigrant entrepreneurs.

In Sunday's Denver Post, there is a must-read article by Al Lewis called "Capitalism thrives with Immigration".

Lewis refers to a November (2006) study by the National Venture Capital Association called "Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs". Click for the FULL STUDY or the PRESS RELEASE.

Here is the first paragraph of the press release...it is worth reading more than once:

Immigrant entrepreneurs have had a profound impact on company creation, innovation and market value in the United States, according to a first-of-its-kind study, "American Made: The Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Professionals on U.S. Competitiveness." The study found that over the past 15 years, immigrants have started 1 in 4 (25 percent) U.S. public companies that were venture-backed, representing a market capitalization of more than $500 billion. Moreover, a survey of today's private, venture-backed start-up companies in the U.S. estimated that 47 percent have immigrant founders. However, the study also found that two-thirds of the immigrant founders surveyed believe that current U.S. immigration policy hinders the ability of future foreign-born entrepreneurs to start American companies today.

The press release also has some pointed commentary about the visa issue that I've discussed:

Two-thirds of the private companies surveyed who use H-1B visas (temporary visa to hire skilled foreign nationals) say that current immigration laws harm U.S. competitiveness. Forty percent stated that current immigration policies have negatively impacted their companies when competing against other firms globally. One-third of the private companies said that the lack of visas had influenced their company's decision to place more personnel in facilities abroad. "The current quota on H-1B visas of 65,000 has not been sufficient to meet the demand for highly skilled professionals," said Chad Waite, general partner at OVP Venture Partners in Seattle and NVCA Board member. "In nine of the past 11 years, employers have exhausted the entire quota of H-1B's prior to the end of the fiscal year. In the past three years, the quota was used up prior to the start of the fiscal year.

Perhaps equally troubling, the wait in skilled green card (permanent residence) categories is five years or more, sending a signal to current and future outstanding professionals and researchers that America may not be the place to make a career and raise your family."

Though I'm no fan of President Bush in the area of immigration I believe he has been closer to the right answer than any other politician whose position I have heard. Yes, we need to enforce our borders and clamp down on illegal immigration, but it must be simultaneous with massively increasing the quantity of work visas available (at all skill levels) as well as reducing the time it takes to get these visas...especially for high-skill workers whom we would rather see working for the benefit of our nation than competing against us.

These immigrants love the United States. In the full study, the NVCA notes that "Immigrant-founded venture-backed public companies today employ an estimated 220,000 people in the United States" and that "Nearly all the immigrant founders in private companies (95 percent) would still start their companies in the United States if given the choice today."

Only the most isolationist, nativist, know-nothings would want to change these immigrant sentiments and risk the great benefit they provide to our country. Luckily, as demonstrated in the last election, many of the "just close the borders" politicians (including notably the long-time incumbent J.D. Hayworth of Arizona) were defeated at the polls. Americans dislike crime and free-rider costs imposed by certain groups of illegal immigrants. But we are smart enough to distinguish between those issues and the overall benefits of immigration which have been proven repeatedly for over 200 years despite there always being some politicians afraid of the newest group of immigration. It is good to see some of what we all know in our guts to be quantified in such dramatic terms by the NVCA study.