Congress looks to increase number of highly skilled immigrants

We certainly need these immigrants to stay here after they are educated in our universities. I don't think they should replace other immigrants though, they should be added to the quota.    - - Donna Poisl

BY BY FRANCO ORDONEZ

WASHINGTON _ The United States can no longer afford to train foreign scientists and engineers and then send them back home to work for the nation's competitors, say lawmakers who are expected to vote Thursday on whether to grant thousands of visas to highly skilled foreign-born graduates.

As an example, more than 20 percent of graduate students at Duke University in North Carolina are from other countries. Students from India, China and South Korea do ground-breaking research on cancer research, electromagnetics and space physics, among other fields.

"And the minute they graduate, we send them home," said Christopher Simmons, associate vice president of federal relations for Duke University. "For as long as I've been in higher ed, there has always been a conversation about why do we do this. We're going against our self-interest as a country."
Click on the HEADLINE above to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.