Happy Birthday America!

Immigration has been a hot topic of debate ever since 9-11 with numerous passionate arguments representing both sides. Most commentary in Indian publications are pro-immigration, and rightly so. Many of us second and third generation Indians would not even be here if it were not for immigration, the factor that brought many of our parents together.

A recent motivational conference that my employer assigned all of our staff to attend hosted a workshop on leadership led by none-other-than General Colin Powell. As the former Secretary of State, General Powell addressed immigration by stating how necessary immigration is on a global scale. From his account, he indicated that immigration sparks tourism dollars and the more the rest of the world visits the United States, the better their understanding of our culture. Their overall understanding of what the United States is all about has an impact on the existence of terrorism in a roundabout way. Additionally, in terms of foreign exchange students, the diversity of our leaders is dependent on immigration. Those who come here on student visas develop skills to contribute development here in the United States or back home, and that has an overall effect globally.

It was interesting for me to hear General Powell's analysis of the economic impacts of immigration and of all the countries in the world, he cited India as an example. And it makes sense. Didn't we basically build the Internet and all of what comprises information technology today? General Powell said that 1.3 billion Indians are engaged in a strategic partnership with the United States. His various examples were intended to help his audience understand that many of the arguments against immigration based on security concerns fail to consider that overall, countries are more concerned with economic matters than peace and war issues. Countries are negotiating shelf space allocations at Walmart and how many locations McDonalds can have and where the next Coca Cola plant will be. In many regards, General Powell is right. We allow the focus on immigration to attach itself to security concerns to determine who we are allowing in and whether that immigrant is going to blow up a train somewhere. We often completely neglect the economic factors of immigration outside of whether any Americans want to take the jobs that the illegal Mexicans currently hold.

In looking at college-educated residents as an asset, there is even an official term for the emigration of educated residents: brain-drain (I know, that sounds silly, I did not make that term up). By definition, brain-drain occurs either when individuals who study abroad do not return to their home country, or when individuals educated in their home country emigrate for higher wages and better opportunities. When I first learned about brain-drain, I thought about India. Often times it is pointed out that all the Indian immigrants that arrived here in 1970's wave were of an educated class. However, according to the statistics, India does not really suffer from brain-drain because less than 5% of Indian college-educated residents leave India. This is a contrast to countries like Ethiopia, where 75% of their skilled workforce is said to have abandoned ship in the 1980's, leaving behind poverty of epidemic proportions and little hope to recover without outside intervention.

An address by a legendary soldier and statesman is enough to make anyone proud to be an American. I suppose for many years, his job was dependent on his ability to make people feel good about America. However in listening to General Powell, I not only felt good about being American, but I also felt good about being Indian. Here we have a country that has made such an impact on the global economy, both in our homeland and abroad. Our respect for our homeland contributes to the low levels of "brain-drain" and though poverty exists, the retained 95% of our college educated residents develop initiatives back home. With minimal exports of our assets, we contribute enough talent to shape technology in the United States. We build, we lead, we research and we develop. Indians win fellowships. Indians comprise a substantial segment of staff at technology companies nationwide. And Indians assume titles such as CEO, CFO, VP of this and VP of that. General Powell concluded by saying "Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds." The United States has accomplished some great deeds and our people were involved because we are the best. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: we are the best!