ants have a college degree, compared to only 20% of the native population. Giving further preference to skilled would-be immigrants could be beneficial to the United States. Some people, such as Senator Alan Simpson, believe that allowing these highly-skilled workers into the US hurts the economy and the American worker. Looking at the facts, though, it would appear that this assumption is incorrect. However, some of the United States? most successful companies are fervently fighting Senator Simpson?s immigration bill that would cut down on the number of highly skilled workers allowed to migrate. These companies include Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, among others. Despite this, current immigration policy is slanted more towards groups that do poorly than it is towards those that are successful. In recent years, the United States is taking in more and more less skilled, legal immigrants, causing a reduction in some benefits immigrants bring with them, including tax revenues and capital externalities. This policy has reduced the number of qualified applicants for many firms, especially those in the technology area. They have greatly benefited from the H-1B visa program, and further expansion of this program at the expense of less-skilled immigrants would be very beneficial. In 1994 almost 738,000 legal non-citizens received Supplemental Security Income, SSI, a welfare program, up from 128,000 in 1982; a 580% increase in just twelve years. Population increase can explain some of the growth, but not nearly all of it. The largest contributor to the jump is the elderly sub-group of immigrants. In the current United States immigration policy, many elderly immigrants are allowed into the country if they have family here that will sponsor them. The law requires the family to support their elderly relatives for a period of three to five years. After that time, the elderly immigrant...
