Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, has slammed the “stupid policies” of the immigration system of the United States and says that the country needs more immigrants, not less. Schmidt made the comments at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday and is particularly intent on seeing more immigrants with high-tech skills being allowed to enter the country.
“In the long list of stupid policies of the US government, I think our attitude to immigration has got to be near the top,” Schmidt commented in response to a question about the most notable change in policy he would want to see made by the federal government. “We take very, very smart people, bring them into the country, give them a diploma and kick them out where they go on to create companies that compete with us. Brilliant strategy.”
Schmidt believes that the US economy would benefit from an increase in the number of H-1B US visas, as many immigrants would develop startup companies and then hire American workers. He claims that many lawmakers feel the same way.
Likely to be unimpressed by Schmidt’s rhetoric is Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has made no secret of his opposition to a bill that would do as the Google chairman wants. Grassley believes that such a move would simply be another in a long line that have seen the average American worker almost completely supplanted by cheap foreign labor.