The most influential technology leaders in the world today are raising their voices in order to support immigration reform. Executives such as Bill Gates from Microsoft and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are leading the battle to allow more immigrants that possess STEM skills to be able to live and work in the United States.
These giants in the tech industry have expressed their opinion that it is vital for highly skilled immigrants to be invited to the United States due to the fact that they could ultimately start their own businesses in the technology industry, providing a boost to the US economy and also improving America’s presence in the worldwide marketplace.
The tech industry’s manner of supporting immigration reform has attracted some criticism due to its focus on highly skilled immigrants as opposed to undocumented immigrants. Zuckerberg has stated in public that the issues that face immigrants in the United States affect not only his industry but the country as a whole, while Bill Gates told CNN Money in an interview that the US is actually damaging its own global competitiveness by preventing immigration reform. Gates says that the jobs created by the technology industry end up in turn creating other jobs, which helps immigrants and the economy.
The tech industry in the United States is reliant on highly skilled workers from overseas because these immigrants often have more experience and skills that are more relevant than those of American workers.