As the article points out, immigration is a key factor behind America’s economic performance. Too many people in tech are hostile to immigration out of a misplaced fear of immigrants lowering wages or ‘stealing’ their jobs. Whatever legitimate merits those concerns may have - and research shows them to be few — let’s never forget that the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants help create these well-paying jobs in the first place.
And we treat them, for that hard work and entrepreneurial spirit quite terribly. As a native born American I’ve been appalled at the mistreatment of H1B workers, and even those on other more “generous” employment terms.
Some of the brightest, hardest working and genuinely wonderful people I’ve worked with have practically crawled over hot coals to get here. They are indeed a source of the United States’ economic dynamism and we would do well to treat them well if we intend to maintain that dynamism.
Let’s make sure we’re distinguishing between immigration of high skilled labor vs sending high skill jobs overseas or hiring high skill workers on low-wage worker visas.
I don’t know a single worker in tech that’s hostile to immigration of high skilled labor, nor afraid of said immigrant stealing their job. Most people I know would be grateful for some help.
I know plenty of people critical of work visa programs (including some of those working on them) and plenty of people critical of offshoring high or mid-skill labor. I also know plenty of people not happy about low-skill workers immigrating illegally en masse.
None of that should be confused with an animus towards immigration generally. Willfully blurring out any nuance in such a complex topic isn’t helpful for finding solutions or common ground.
Things tech workers associate with “job stealing” (exploitive temporary visa programs and offshoring) should not be characterized as an animus towards immigration. They are different, and that’s the point, right? Nobody in tech I’ve ever met is worried about a high skilled immigrant stealing a tech job.
