Speech #1040168788

I believe that this bill will make it more difficult for people like my grandparents to come to America. Specifically. S. 1394 would significantly reduce the quotas for legal immigration. restrict immigration as a means to reunite separated families. and eliminate whole categories of legal immigration. I believe these measures will cause real harm to our economy and to our Nation as a whole. Most damaging. they will keep us from benefiting from the hard work. experience and expertise of legal immigrants. Immigrants are the ultimate entrepreneurs. They are people willing to risk it all in a new and different land. They are selfselected and seek to make a better life for themselves and their families. As economist Thomas Sowell writes in his Ethnic America: A History: The fact that immigrants not only equal. but eventually surpass. their nativeborn counterparts suggests that they brought some advantage in terms of human capital. that migration is a selective process. bringing the more ambitious or venturesome or able elements of a population. Mr. President. these are the kind of people we want to become Americans. These are the kind of people who sacrifice so their children can rise to the top of their class. Immigrants also create a brain gain for the United States. One in three people who have graduated from college in engineering In this country Is an immigrant. according to the National Research Center. Immigrant expertise is widespread and impressive. In the 20th century between 20 and 50 percent of all Nobel Prize winners. depending on the discipline involved. have been immigrants to the United States. As of 1988 there were more Russian Nobel Prize winners living in the United States than living in Russia. These highly educated. highly skilled immigrants are essential to the competitiveness of Americas hightechnology industries. Consider Intel. one of the most prolific and expanding companies in the United States. employing tens of thousands of American workers. Intel constantly develops cutting edge technologies that will define the computer industry in the 21st century. And it is doing all of this with a great deal of help from Americas newest immigrants. At one point not long ago three members of Intels top management. including chief executive officer Andrew S. Grove. from Hungary. were immigrants. Intel and other hightechnology firms must seek out and hire immigrants because the demand for highly skilled workers exceeds the supply. After recruiting on American campuses. these companies still do not have enough highly skilled engineers. scientists. and computer specialists they need to remain competitive. Only because their need is real do companies go through the trouble. expense and government paperwork necessary to hire foreign workers. But productive immigrants are not Just computer programmers in Silicon Valley. ArabAmericans In Dearborn and Detroit. Vietnamese in Arlington. Cubans in Miami. and a number of other immigrant groups in a number of cities have revitalized Americas urban areas. Whether it is the Korean grocer or the Chinese restaurateur. our urban areas in particular owe a great deal to entrepreneurial. hardworking immigrants willing to take chances. to start small businesses in areas others have ignored. Mr. President. immigration is not a zerosum game in which every job that goes to a foreignborn worker means one less job for an American worker. Immigration is a positivesum gain for Americans in terms of jobs. living standards. and economic growth. When a business adds a new resourcewhether it is a labor or capital resourceit generates more jobs. more income. and more opportunities for Americans. not less. This is especially true when the resource is a talented. creative. and inventive worker. As George Gilder points out. the beneficial impact of immigrants on the U.S. economy "is overwhelming and undeniable: It is all around us. in a spate of inventions and technical advances. from microwaves and air bags to digital cable and satellite television. from home computers and air conditioners to cellular phones and lifesaving pharmaceutical and medical devices." Mr. Gilder estimates that without immigration over the last 50 years. U.S. real living standards would be at least 40 percent lower. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that an article by George Gilder on the economic benefits of immigration in yesterdays Wall Street Journal be placed in the RECORD immediately following my remarks.