Should Techies Trump All Others In Immigration Reform? 231
theodp writes "In an open letter on TechCrunch, Vivek Wadhwa calls on Congressman Luis Gutierrez to lift his 'hold on Silicon Valley' and stop tying immigration reform for highly-skilled STEM immigrants to the plight of undocumented immigrants. So, why should the STEM set get first dibs? 'The issues of high-skilled and undocumented immigrants are both equally important,' says Wadhwa, but 'the difference is that the skilled workers have mobility and are in great demand all over the world. They are getting frustrated and are leaving in droves.' Commenting on Gutierrez's voting record, Wadhwa adds, 'I would have voted for visas for 50,000 smart foreign students graduating with STEM degrees from U.S. universities over bringing in 55,000 randomly selected high-school graduates from abroad. The STEM graduates would have created jobs and boosted our economy. The lottery winners will come to the U.S. with high hopes, but will face certain unemployment and misery because of our weak economy.' So, should Gutierrez cede to Wadhwa's techies-before-Latinos proposal, or would this be an example of the paradox of virtuous meritocracy undermining equality of opportunity?"
Re:How about... (Score:5, Informative)
He didn't have to run a campaign at all. Illinois' 4th district has been so grotesquely gerrymandered that it's been nicknamed 'earmuffs.' It's designed to include two majority Hispanic areas.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/IL04_109.gif [wikimedia.org]
This man hasn't ever received less than 75% of the vote, and has had this seat for 20 years. He hasn't had to run so much as a primary since around 1994.
Statistics are from US GAO (Score:4, Informative)
Look them up for yourself. 54% of H1Bs are entry level. Only 7% of H1Bs work at an advanced level.