‘Security Fears’ Don’t Negate Need for High-Skilled Immigration Reform, CTA Says

The U.S. “must ensure that those with bad intent do not enter our country,” Michael Petricone, Consumer Technology Association senior vice president-government and regulatory affairs, emailed us Wednesday, a day after the House overwhelmingly passed legislation (HR-158) to tighten restrictions on the nation’s visa waiver program in wake of the Paris and San Bernardino, California, terrorist attacks. But clamping down on U.S. visa policies shouldn't negate the need for immigration reform for the high-skilled, Petricone said. “We must enable high-skilled immigrants to enter the United States and create new jobs and businesses,” he said. “This is not a zero-sum issue -- we can and we must do both. We urge Congress to ensure that security fears do not prevent us from admitting the next generation of qualified immigrant innovators who will build our nation and economy.” The association long ago identified high-skilled immigration reform as a top legislative priority. "Everyone agrees we need highly skilled immigration reform," when 70 percent of those earning post-graduate engineering and math degrees are from foreign countries, "and we’re kicking them out," CTA President Gary Shapiro told us immediately after the 2014 midterm elections (see 1411050022).