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Comment by threepipeproblm | Hacker News Reader

I believe this hurts some clients of mine, who were looking at it as a possible answer. They have been spending significant $$$ in the US economy, developing a product that it's unlikely any domestic firm could, and struggling to find a way to stay here so that they have access to American talent. They are currently here on a importer's license or something, which makes it illegal for them to visit their home country.

While I don't want to be taken for one who is just losing their mind over Trump (since they have all typically seemed pretty lame to me), xenophobia is actively harmful to US economic interests.

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> developing a product that it's unlikely any domestic firm could, and struggling to find a way to stay here so that they have access to American talent.

How do those two statements not contradict each other? It sounds like "developing a product that it's unlikely any domestic firm could" should really be "developing a product that domestic firms are not interested in" if the talent required to build it is also American.

Good question, simple answer: They have domain knowledge that is basically impossible (or very unlikely) for foreigners to their home country to have. But they have a preference for American talent to build their product, partly because they feel the supply of good programmers is better here (a sentiment I am probably oversimplifying, i.e. maybe they have a complex notion of value. The point is they want to start up here.)

This is to the best of my understanding. They have made some explanatory statements to me, but usually we are working. And they are very polite, not feeling it is really on them to criticize. I know they have used a large number of freelancers in my area, for various tasks.

While this story may not be stereotypical, everyone has their own story and our current immigration policy seems to limit entrepreneurs in many unexpected ways.

On the upside, there's a little good among this crappy situation: It may participate in rebalancing smart people in other countries, which may help other economies have a rebound. It's not all bright either because a smart person has less impact in an less developed economy.

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