Immigrants and Manufacturing

Richard Herman, writing at Huffington Post, asks whether “immigrants could drive the revival of American manufacturing.”

Herman tells the story of A123 systems, an electric-car company created by three men who happen to be Indian, Taiwanese, and Venezuelan immigrants, respectively.

Herman goes on to say that

Our current immigration dinosaur system was built for the 1950s, not the 21st century.

As the country puts out the unwelcome sign to immigrants — both low-skilled and high-skilled — America is falling further and further behind in the race to invent and commercialize new technologies that invent new products, turbocharge high-end manufacturing, and sell overseas.

Immigrant innovators and entrepreneur are increasingly leaving the U.S. , in part due to immigration barriers and embarrassing delays, and in part to pursue new opportunities in their homeland — or in third countries that are recruiting them, such as Canada, Singapore, Australia, Russia, Chile, etc.

You can read the full article here.

– The Editors