To answer that question requires navigating a minefield of political considerations. But it shouldn’t have to be that way. As any country proud of its founding and its heritage should be, the answer is simple. Any immigration should be to the benefit of the country. Not to a particular political party or to any identified “class.”

Democrats act as if the right to run across the border when you’re 8 1/2 months pregnant, give birth in a U.S. hospital and then immediately start collecting welfare was exactly what our forebears had in mind, a sacred constitutional right, as old as the 14th Amendment itself. This is the ‘anchor baby’ effect. That’s not the case. But needs to be addressed, eliminated, in any immigration reform legislation.

There is, or was, an effort to attract and keep highly skilled immigrants in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It was called the STEM Jobs Act.

STEM Jobs Act summary . . .

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make up to 55,000 visas available in FY2014 and subsequent fiscal years to qualified immigrants who:

(1) have a doctorate degree in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM degree) from a U.S. doctoral institution of higher education; and

(2) have taken all doctoral courses in a STEM field, including all courses taken by correspondence or by distance education, while physically present in the United States.

It passed the House with bi-partisan support. But died in the Democrat-controlled Senate. What could be controversial about that? It appears that smart and self-sufficient immigrants, those likely to be job creators themselves, not dependent on government welfare programs are not the kind of immigrants Democrats prefer. They prefer immigrants that are both bad for society and good for their political party.

Continue reading Who, Or What, Should Benefit From Immigration Reform? →