This might be one of the most underappreciated facts of American public opinion: As controversial as the subject of immigration is, high-skill immigration isn’t controversial at all. A Pew Research Center poll in September found 71 percent of Donald Trump supporters and 87 percent of Kamala Harris supporters favored admitting more high-skilled immigrants. Likewise, a survey last summer from Economic Innovation Group found 74 percent of voters support “allowing more legal, high-skilled immigration to the United States,” versus only 18 percent who oppose it, with strong support across the political spectrum. 

Support for high-skill immigration certainly makes a lot of economic sense. These smarties from abroad are a key driver of innovation in America, with the founders of Google as perhaps the most well-known example. According to a 2022 Hoover Institution analysis, immigrants make up 16 percent of inventors in the US, producing 23 percent of all new inventions (measured by patents and how valuable and influential these patents are). Immigrant inventors are also particularly good at helping their colleagues be more innovative. When you add up both their direct contributions and their positive influence on others, immigrants are actually responsible for about 36 percent of all innovation in the US.

Then there’s this: In 2022, foreign students earned over 17,000 science and engineering doctorates (over one-third of all such degrees) and dominated fields like engineering, computer science, physics, and economics, where they earned more than half of all doctorates.

It’s no mystery why the US tech sector, including Elon Musk and many other Silicon Valley leaders, is pushing the incoming Trump administration to expand high-skilled immigration, particularly for STEM workers. While Trump has shown new openness to the idea, suggesting green cards for foreign graduates, a recent Politico piece highlights the obvious tension with immigration restrictionists on Team Trump, such as adviser Stephen Miller. Reporter Brendan Bordelon notes that “during Trump’s previous presidency, when under Miller’s influence, Trump slashed the number of green cards issued and denied applications and extensions for H-1B and other skilled visas, causing some companies to lose skilled workers.”

When it comes to high-skill immigration, what does pro-growth reform look like? This from the “Toward a Potential Grand Bargain for the Nation” report out last summer, whose authors include numerous academics and think tankers, including AEI economist Michael Strain:

One obvious policy solution is to stop sending away foreign-born graduates of American colleges and universities. . . Unfortunately, only a fraction of them are allowed to stay in the United States after graduating. Rather than sending these graduates away when their education is finished and they can begin making social and economic contributions, the United States should do everything it can to keep them here. Graduates should be offered a green card when they receive their degree. The United States should go even further to welcome additional highly skilled immigrants. … To increase workforce and economic growth, fuel innovation, and increase the nation’s stock of human capital, we propose doubling the number of employment-based green cards issued each year. This would make it the second-largest category of green cards, behind the reunification of immediate family members.

It would be a good start.