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Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer, and Other Tech Leaders Push for Immigration Reform

Tech leaders have crafted a joint letter to President Obama and the nation’s top lawmakers, asking that Washington work together to craft some sort of comprehensive immigration reform by the end...
Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer, and Other Tech Leaders Push for Immigration Reform
Written by Josh Wolford
  • Tech leaders have crafted a joint letter to President Obama and the nation’s top lawmakers, asking that Washington work together to craft some sort of comprehensive immigration reform by the end of this year.

    The letter was signed by over 100 Presidents, CEOs, partners, and chairmen of both major and minor tech companies. Some of the notable names include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, HP CEO Meg Whitman, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

    It was addressed to President Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

    Here’s a bit from the letter:

    As you know, the United States has a long history of welcoming talented, hard-working people to ourshores. Immigrant entrepreneurs have gone on to found thousands of companies with household nameslike eBay, Google, PayPal and Yahoo! to name just a few. These companies provide jobs, drive economicgrowth and generate tax revenue at all levels of government.

    Yet because our current immigration system is outdated and inefficient, many high-skilled immigrantswho want to stay in America are forced to leave because they are unable to obtain permanent visas. Somedo not bother to come in the first place. This is often due to visa shortages, long waits for green cards,and lack of mobility. We believe that numerical levels and categories for high-skilled nonimmigrant andimmigrant visas should be responsive to market needs and, where appropriate, include mechanisms tofluctuate based on objective standards. In addition, spouses and children should not be counted againstthe cap of high-skilled immigrant visas. There should not be a marriage or family penalty.

    They go on to say that bipartisan legislation like the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 and the Startup Visa Act and startup Act 3.0 are good steps to “encouraging innovation here in the U.S. by allowing American companies to have access to the talented workers they need while simultaneously investing in STEM education here in the U.S.”

    Tech companies have a history of lobbying congress to free up green cards and temporary worker visa for high-skilled workers. This new push is a continuation of that message – that we need to keep the best and brightest inside our borders.

    Tech CEO letter by JMartinezTheHill

    [via The Hill]

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