As you might imagine, the issue of immigration was a prominent topic at the first National Summit on American Competitiveness in Washington on Tuesday, September 18. Here’s the story I posted for our News in Brief page:

Scholar Urges HR to Work with Schools (9/18/07)

I didn’t have space to get into immigration, so I’ll do that here. On the first panel of the day, there was an interesting exchange about raising visa limits for highly skilled immigrants.

A couple participants said that retaining more of the foreign science and technology students who study at our universities—and bringing high-tech professionals in from other countries—is critical for the future of the U.S. economy. 

At the very least, they want H-1B visa levels raised from a 65,000 annual cap to 115,000, as would have been done in the now-dormant Senate comprehensive immigration bill.

“We need to attract the best and the brightest,” said Chad Holliday Jr., chairman and CEO of DuPont. “We’re going to have to take a few risks on visas to get the best people in.”

Floyd Kvamme, a partner emeritus at Kleiner Perkins, a high-tech venture capital firm, called for H-1B visa policy to be addressed in a stand-alone bill. He also advocated for an increase in employment-based green cards.

He made a good point that the international students who earn their degrees from U.S. institutions and then are forced to go home might end up undermining U.S. prosperity.

“Now they’re real competitors,” he said.

It fell to Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor, to inject a dose of skepticism. He cautioned that throwing open the immigration gates isn’t a panacea. That approach needs to be leavened with other reforms.

“We can’t use that as a reason for not training our own people,” he said. “That takes the pressure off” improving the U.S. educational system.

Of course, the United States needs to welcome immigrants—especially those who are going to create the next Google or develop a cure for cancer or even build the next overpriced condominium complex in Arlington, Virginia.

But it would be refreshing if we could also focus on Americans who might be hurt in the process without resorting to conservative, or liberal, bromides about the dangers of the global economy.

We need politicians who are willing to approach issues in the way that Porter does—acknowledging both sides of the argument, offering some doubts and proposing solutions.

Too often on immigration, all we hear are the passionate advocates mixing it up with the passionate opponents. But the middle ground is where the real hard work is done.