Thomas Friedman points out that a disproportionate number of the finalists of the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search are of immigrant origin, shares their names — Linda Zhou, Alice Wei Zhao, etc. — and concludes that we should be pro-immigration.
Tino calls this a bait and switch:
Well, let us note that fully 54% of the foreign born population of the U.S is from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. Only 9% are from India and China. Even if you don’t ignore illegal immigrants, there are several times as many legal immigrants from Latin America as there are from India and China.Yet, of the 40 finalists, not a single one seems to be from Latin America! His list is almost entirely made up of Indians and Chinese kids.
In 2008 only 15% of legal immigration was based on employment or skills, the remaining 85% is skill unrelated things such as having relatives in U.S. This is America’s current immigration policy: take a few high-skilled people and masses of lower-skilled immigrants.
To summarize Friedman’s position:
Since high-skill immigration is good, let’s continue our policy of low-skilled immigration!