An American citizen, engineer by qualification, and with decades of experience investing in high-tech companies, getting appointed as a senior policy advisor to the US President on Artificial Intelligence should be one of the most ho-hum things to happen.
But not if the American citizen is brown, has an exotic name and some strong views on meritocracy.
That, in short, is the problem with president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for AI policy advisor, Sriram Krishnan.
How did Krishnan—who in no way is involved with Trump 2.0’s immigration policy– become the lightning rod for the immigration debate is a complex question. But it does appear that a former Trump acolyte and peddler of conspiracy theories, Laura Loomer, may have been largely responsible for thrusting Krishnan in the spotlight as the ugly Indian immigrant stealing jobs of white Americans.
Here’s what Loomer tweeted soon after Krishnan’s appointment: “Deeply disturbing to see the appointment of Sriram Krishnan as Senior Policy Advisor for AI…It’s alarming to see the number of career leftists who are now being appointed to serve in Trump’s admin when they share views that are in direct opposition to Trump’s America First agenda.”
Her issue with Krishnan is that he has argued in favour of removing country caps for Green Card. Conveniently ignoring the fact that his AI advisory role has nothing to do with America’s immigration policies, Loomer makes an Olympian leap of logic, asking further in the same tweet, “How will be (sic) control immigration in our country and promote America First innovation when Trump appointed this guy who wants to remove all restrictions on green card caps…so that foreign students can come to the US and take jobs that should be given to American STEM students”.
Hysteria, not Facts
The blessed thing about social media and conspiracy theory peddlers like Loomer is that hysteria sells more than facts. To achieve that, of course, people like Loomer must first drag the discourse down from the echelons of policy makers into the pigsty of social media, where random data, allegations, and opinions wrestle to produce exotic excrement.
By mischievously obfuscating illegal and legal immigration to stoke popular angst, people like Loomer further their own agendas, but at a great cost to their country. Let’s take the educated Indian immigrant, for example. Have they really stolen jobs of white Americans? The big picture first. According to the data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on December 6, nonfarm payroll rose by 227,000 in November this year, with the overall unemployment rate staying put at 4.2 per cent. Among the major worker groups, men, women, teenagers, Whites, Hispanics and Asians, there was no change in unemployment rates. The Whites were at 3.8 per cent—same as Asians—and Hispanics were at 5.3 per cent. Only the Blacks saw an uptick in unemployment at 6.4 per cent.
Yes, the tech industry has been laying off people, but that sword is cutting through all denominations. LinkedIn is full of stories of Indians on H1B laid off and staring at an uncertain future, despite having lived in America for years.
If the Indian techie has become the most visible and successful face of the immigrant worker in America’s high-tech industry, it’s for good reason. It’s a trend that began in the workplace and colleges in the run up to Y2K and has continued since. According to data from the US National Science Board, between 2012 and 2021, the shares of Science & Engineering degrees earned by temporary visa holders increased for all degree levels, but most substantially at the master’s level.
Among postsecondary degree recipients, the NSB points out, those on temporary visas are more likely than US citizens and permanent residents to earn their degree in S&E fields, especially at advanced degree levels. In 2021, for instance, 57% of master’s degrees awarded to temporary visa holders were in S&E fields, compared with 19% for US citizens and permanent residents. Among doctoral degree recipients, an overwhelming percentage (83%) of temporary visa holders were in S&E fields, compared with 59% of US citizens and PRs.
What the data reveals is that fewer American students are signing up for STEM courses, compared to international students. Is it any surprise, then, that the IT and healthcare industry is hiring international students, especially Indians?
The Immigrant Value Creators
Unlike the illegal and uneducated immigrants that pour into the US from across its southern border, the legal, highly-educated immigrant is the driver of America’s global competitiveness. Of the 8 trillion-plus dollar companies on US stock market—Apple (3.86 trillion), Microsoft (3.20 tn), Nvidia (3.34 tn), Google (2.37 tn), Amazon (2.35 tn), Meta (1.50 tn), Tesla (1.35 tn), Broadcom (1.13 tn)—5 are either founded or led by first-generation immigrants.
Microsoft is led by Satya Nadella, Nvidia by (Taiwanese-American) Jensen Huang, Google by Sundar Pichai, Tesla by (South African-American) Elon Musk, and Broadcom by (Malaysian-born) Hock E. Tan. Why are these immigrants at the helm of their companies? Obviously, because the shareholders believe they are the most qualified to lead them!
Even in terms of academic research, immigrant scholars churn out a phenomenal amount of cutting-edge intellectual property that is keeping America ahead of all other nations. Indeed, the AI revolution would be hanging fire, but for the breakthrough achieved by–you guessed it—by immigrant computer scientists. The seminal research paper that provided AI its tipping point was called “Attention is All You Need”, and its lead author was Ashish Vaswani—an Indian immigrant. In fact, many of the co-authors were also immigrant scientists.
Therefore, the economic wealth that Laura Loomer and millions of other Americans are enjoying today is courtesy the brilliant immigrants who choose to make the US their home. As a businessman, President-elect Donald Trump intuitively sees merit in getting the best brains to come and work in the US. His only challenge is that a large part of the constituency which has voted him to power mistakes white skin, and not enterprising spirit and brilliance, as the hallmark of Americanness.
Shutting the door on legal and merit-based immigration is a hara-kiri the world’s only superpower mustn’t inflict on itself.
