Last week, Cypress Semiconductor Corp. hosted a news conference by Michigan Sen. Spencer Abraham, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee and a champion of legal immigration as a positive force for all Americans. The confrontation illustrates the intensity of the immigration debate in the United States. Over the last decade, America's Fortune 500 companies have been shrinking. Far from draining the American economy, immigrants create economic value and jobs, benefiting both themselves and native-born Americans. Consider the following conventional wisdom and then the data that refutes it.
Immigrants work for less money, reducing the wages of other workers.
San Jose's immigrant population is among the nation's highest. No. 1 in the United States, ahead of No. 2 New York City, another highly concentrated immigrant center. Immigrants take jobs from native-born Americans. Like other Silicon Valley companies, we are so in need of skilled workers that we have started remote design centers around the world anywhere we can find good engineers. Of course, we enjoy a low unemployment rate in immigrant-rich San Jose.