The Washington Post
September 19, 2012
NOT MANY PARTS of the Democratic and Republican party platforms are interchangeable. An exception is the nearly identical passages expressing support for keeping foreign-born students in this country after they earn advanced degrees from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM fields. The rationale is obvious. It is folly to educate these prized students in the United States — often with federal subsidies — and then, lacking adequate visas for them, force them into the hands of corporate competitors overseas.
Unfortunately, it’s easier to recognize folly than to do something about it, especially for the current Congress, and particularly in the context of the contentious immigration debate. Yet if any immigration problem can be resolved, this one should be.
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