Losing Our Competitive Edge? The Importance of High-Skilled Professionals in Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Friday, March 31, 2006
7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Solomon Hall
University of San Diego
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The forum will be a panel discussion on the impact of current federal immigration policies on the ability of high-technology and other U.S. firms to recruit and retain highly-skilled employees from outside the U.S. Many highly-skilled technical employees come to the U.S. for training and to work for U.S. firms. However, U.S. immigration policies have created obstacles to the recruitment and retention by U.S. companies of these essential employees.
This forum on how the U.S. is losing the competitive edge over other countries will cover the following topics:
- The United States has become a "knowledge-based economy" in which creativity, innovation, and technological advancement are engines of economic growth. Not surprisingly, the new ideas that fuel a knowledge-based economy are not readily defined by nationality or national borders;
- The long U.S. tradition of openness to the best and brightest minds from around the world has therefore proven invaluable in maintaining the nation's global preeminence in science and technology;
- There is mounting evidence, however, that persistent structural flaws in the U.S. immigration system, as well as the unintended consequences of security procedures instituted since September 11, 2001 , are discouraging and preventing many of the best international students, scholars, and scientists from studying and working in the United States;
- At the same time, the global competition for talent has increased as more countries develop policies and practices that seek to attract highly skilled students and workers;
- If the United States continues down the path of increasing isolation from the rest of the world, it cannot hope to maintain its position of scientific and economic leadership.
Co-sponsored by the University of San Diego Law School, the Trans-Border Institute, the Scripps Research Institute, the San Diego chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Immigration Policy Center at the American Immigration Law Foundation.
MCLE Credit
The University of San Diego School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider and certifies that this activity is approved for MCLE credit in the amount of 1.5 hours of general credit.
