Immigration and Entrepreneurship — How Dumb Does AP Think Its Readers Are?
I think the point the Associated Press is trying to make two points here:
- Immigrant-entrepreneurs are driving the country’s economy. Well, doh:
- We should let in every immigrant we possibly can, legal or illegal, on the off-chance that he or she might be an entrepreneur.:
Foreign-born entrepreneurs were behind one in four U.S. technology startups over the past decade, according to a study to be published Thursday.
A team of researchers at Duke University estimated that 25 percent of technology and engineering companies started from 1995 to 2005 had at least one senior executive — a founder, chief executive, president or chief technology officer — born outside the United States.
Immigrant entrepreneurs’ companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in sales in 2005, according to the survey.
Their contributions to corporate coffers, employment and U.S. competitiveness in the global technology sector offer a counterpoint to the recent political debate over immigration and the economy, which largely centers on unskilled, illegal workers in low-wage jobs.
Baloney. Immigrant entrepreneurship is only a “counterpoint” if you think that anyone is considering keeping talented people out of the country through draconian immigration restrictions. The fact is that getting into the US and getting a green card is relatively easy. Getting to citizenship is another matter, but that’s a separate topic.
The “immigration debate” is almost all about finding and dealing with people who are already here illegally and keeping additional people from entering the county ….. ILLEGALLY. The immigrant-entrepreneurs AP covers in the linked article are not relevant to the debate at all.
