In “The Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent,” former Triangle tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa staunchly defends immigrants and what they mean to America’s future.
“In alienating and locking out our skilled immigrant entrepreneurs and inventors, we have not only blocked the flow of the very lifeblood that built the economic backbone of this great country, we have also deadened the never endings that create the next great thing,” Wadhwa wrote. “If we restore this flow, we restore our nation.”
The newly published book is receiving numerous good, supportive reviews. It’s also generated considerable media attention with Wadhwa being interviewed by National Public Radio, cable network CNN and other outlets.
One of the most interesting was Wadhwa’s interview with Nick Schultz, editor-in-chief of The American, which is published by the American Enterprise Institute.
Wadhwa, an immigrant from India who became an American citizen, has been warning for years that U.S. limitations on immigrants, such as the lack of “green cards” and the return of many tech-focused students to their homelands, will have disastrous consequences on the economy.
Here’s part of Wadhwa’s exchange with Schultz:
Nick Schulz: ”If a spaceship were to land in the United States and extraterrestrial visitors were to listen to the nation’s discussion on immigration, they would conclude America is being overwhelmed by immigrants. And yet you have published a book called The Immigrant Exodus. What’s going on?”
Vivek Wadhwa: “The extraterrestrials would wonder why America is even debating this issue.
“As they watched the progression of this land over the past 300 years, they saw wave after wave of immigrants bring new ideas, energy, and culture. They watched the development of the economic miracle that became the United States of America. They were impressed to see America lead the world in values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights. They saw the great advantage that America’s diversity and openness provided its people. They noted that every wave of immigrants that had just landed faced resentment and discrimination from the wave that arrived before, but was eventually accepted—and lauded for making everyone work harder and think smarter. They were delighted to see that new immigrants such as myself who have been speaking up against flawed U.S. government policies aren’t treated as pariahs—they are given national awards for being “Americans by Choice” for their “commitment to this country and to the common civic values that unite us as Americans.”
“The extraterrestrials, who surely regard America as the beacon of hope for humanity, would worry that America was hastening its own economic decline by reversing the immigration policies that have benefitted it, that the land of immigrants was becoming a land of emigrants, and that it was inadvertently strengthening its global competitors.”
Wadhwa, who founded and later sold RTP-based Relativity, is a Fellow, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University, Vice President of Innovation and Research, Singularity University, Director of Research, Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization and Exec in Residence, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Halle Institute of Global Learning, Emory University, and a columnist for the Washington Post and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
