Immigration reform has stalled because of ugly Republican politics and an insistence by the Democrats that it be all or nothing. This has taken a toll on the country’s economic growth and global competitiveness. Witness the rise of Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Xiaomi — which now have their eyes on U.S. markets — and of their counterparts in India. Entrepreneurs worldwide are building the same technologies as Silicon Valley is. America has lost its monopoly on innovation.
But there may finally be hope to slow the skilled immigrant exodus that is in progress. New legislation introduced by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the Immigration Innovation (“I-Squared”) Act of 2015, prescribes some very sensible reforms.
