A Floating Silicon Valley for Techies Without Green Cards

Since September 11, America’s increased concern with security has threatened to undermine its ability to attract global talent. Foreign-born scientists and engineers provide a critical element of America’s talent base: in the last decade, more than half of all Silicon Valley start-ups were launched by immigrants. In 2007, I warned that by making itself less hospitable to immigrant students, scientists, and entrepreneurs, the United States was undermining its own interests. "What if," I asked, "Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and venture-capital luminary who has backed so many blockbuster companies, had stayed in India? Or if Google’s Sergey Brin had decided to apply his entrepreneurial talents in Europe?"

As Vivek Wadhwa, AnnaLee Saxenian and others noted in an important 2009 study: