There are many different kinds of immigrants and it doesn't make sense to think of all immigrants as one entity. This is how America deals with immigration, as if there was a faucet which could be turned up or down.
There are many reasons why the US Government should be very selective with immigration.
America should capitalize on immigration, since this is capitalist country. It should extend its arm to talented young people with academic skills. America's wealth is based on immigrants who come here and do well. America needs more immigrants, this is a country of immigrants. But America should be very careful as to who it lets in, and it should let in only the most intelligent and gifted people. America would not have had such an easy time defeating Japan if it wasn't for Einstein who invented the atom bomb.
However the US Government doesn't do this. It doesn't take its time to select its immigrants, it lets in anyone who has money. It is much much easier to gain legal status if you have money to afford an attorney. Immigration laws make it almost impossible for international students to stay in America. International students have to pay more money for tuition and they even have to pay to work for free at internships which are necessary to get jobs. Why would the US teach people and then let them go off on their own. That's just bad faith.
Visa lotteries make no sense, how can a lottery determine how valuable an immigrant is.
The US Government doesn't do anything about skilled young students who wish to stay in the country but can't afford lawyers. It doesn't help them, it only throws stumbling blocks in the form of fees which international students have to pay at colleges. This is just stupid.
On the other hand, the US Government pursues the pointless task of blocking illegal immigration from Mexico and Canada. I think Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City sums it up very well:
"It is as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not: Defeat the natural forces of supply and demand and defeat the natural human instinct for freedom and opportunity. You might as well sit on the beach and tell the tide not to come in."
The governments immigration policy is futile on two grounds. 1# It doesn't help valuable young and skilled immigrants who wish to live here legally, 2# It can't prevent people from coming here illegally.
By making it hard for ALL immigrants to come, the US Government is discouraging those who are pursuing legal residence, and encouraging others to give up coming here legally and just try to sneak in.
It's time to end this faucet-like immigration policy. Immigrants aren't all equal and there are some who are needed here more than others. It's not America's job to help people by letting them come here. It's not America's business to relieve other countries of their poor. America is a capitalist country and it needs to capitalize on immigration.
My blog: http://www.demoprotestant.com