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Comment by mjmahone17 | Hacker News Reader

No, it's that the vast majority of immigrants are not working in tech. The vast majority of Americans are not working in tech. We have something like 11 million undocumented immigrants: their staying in the US should not be contingent on them being a part of the new business scene.

Furthermore, why should the US be encouraging technologists to immigrate here, when fundamentally those immigrants are in the business of putting other people (Americans and immigrants both) out of work? Yes, this is great for Silicon Valley, and probably is good for NYC, but what about for Iowa and Nebraska?

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You're right that a vast majority of immigrants are not working in technology. However, I disagree with you that we shouldn't encourage immigration. The United States was built by immigrants. A majority of Americans are only a couple generations removed from being immigrants themselves. There's a good chance that you are as well. Many of the most innovative and industrious people were immigrants and not only in technology. The impact of sensible immigration policy that creates more tax payers (employers and/or employees) and greater transparency is good for the economy at large whether in technology or not. There is a risk to technology "putting other people...out of work", but that's irrelevant to whether they pay taxes in the United States or in another country.

Nebraska and Iowa have growing tech scenes as well. Obviously it is nowhere close to NYC and Silicon Valley, but it isn't all farmland out here either, if that's what you were thinking.

Off the top of my head: http://www.hudl.com/ http://www.travefy.com/ http://www.dwolla.com/ http://www.archrival.com/ http://www.votertide.com/ and even less-traditional sites such as http://www.occupytogether.org/

This seems crazy to me. Right now those Nebraskans are competing with tech workers in other countries for tech jobs. If we bring more of those workers here, then 1) the competition will happen on US soil where we can ensure the playing field is fair and 2) an influx of well-paid immigrants will create more jobs for non tech-workers in support or service industries. Any way you slice it, having more tech workers in america is better than the current trend of sending jobs overseas.

The only folks that might be harmed by this immigration shift are the tech elites here that command sky-high salaries.

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