creeping wars of protectionism

immigration abroad continues

In a protracted "debate" over the value of American education and the propensity of immigrants to come and get one, then leave, it's becoming increasingly clear the problem is the general attitude of xenophobia and its effect on our immigration system more broadly. For whatever reason, it is relatively easy to come here and get an engineering degree with a student visa. But somehow, it is not so easy to come here to get an engineering job (though it is relatively easy to come here to get a construction job or to pick lettuce for example, seeing as those laws are not enforced, but the skilled, H1 job visas are). As a solution: "American" companies like Microsoft have opened offices in China, Canada, Europe, etc. Where they can keep the people they find who have been trained by our high-tech American universities in employ without dealing with the ridiculous amount of confusion and bureaucracy to hire them in America itself.

The "America first" attitude on education and jobs, as with any form of protectionism, means America loses.