Transcription
For our next story, let's start with a question. What happens to a country that wants growth but not the people who power that growth? The country ends up being a net loser. And I'm not the one saying this. These are the words of India's external affairs minister Dr. SJ Shankr. He was recently speaking at a conclave. Someone asked him about immigration and the recent crackdowns and this is what he had to say.
"Mobility, the use of talent across boundaries is to our mutual benefit that they would be net lossers if they actually erect too many roadblocks to the flow of talent and particularly if you move into an era of advanced manufacturing. If you know uh this will be you will need more talent not less talent. And talent cannot be organically developed at a high rate. They're losing out."
That's what the minister has said. He said countries are trying to protect so-called local jobs. They're cracking down on immigration. But for growth you need talent. For deep tech and AI you need talent and talent moves. If you block that movement, the work won't stop. It will just go somewhere else. In other words, you can shut the door, but then companies will simply move their work or their operations to where the talent is.
And the timing of these comments is significant because they come against the backdrop of a new immigration crackdown, a crackdown by the United States on visas, including H-1B visas. The Trump administration has ordered stricter vetting of applications. This is what it means. If you're applying for an H1B visa, Washington will review your resume. It will go through your social media posts, including your LinkedIn profile. This is to check if you've been involved in censorship of any kind.
And this is particularly significant for Indians because they get the highest number of such visas. Of all the approved H1B applications, 71% are of Indians. That makes it a pipeline. A pipeline of Indian engineers, scientists, and coders. The people who built Silicon Valley and kept American tech running. They came from India.
But Minister J. Shankar makes an even sharper point. He says the West does not have a jobs problem because of immigrants. The west has a jobs problem because it let manufacturing go to China. And this is very important. He's saying immigrants did not take jobs. American factories moving overseas did. And this is the part that no politician wants to say out loud.
Also, the West may not like it, but they cannot do without immigrants. And I'll give you four reasons why.
Number one, immigrants grow the economy. Look at this IMF report. It says a 1% rise in immigration boosts output by nearly 1% within 5 years. In the US, immigration is projected to raise the GDP by almost $9 trillion in the next decade.
Reason number two, innovation. Did you know that immigrants are responsible for more than 25% of US patents? or that high-skilled immigrants are 80% more likely to start companies or that a lot of major American tech CEOs from Google to Microsoft were immigrants. Men and women who helped America innovate and grow.
Reason three, immigrants fill the gaps that nobody else wants to fill like healthc care aids, agricultural labor, construction crews. Many western economies would literally collapse without this workforce. Low-skilled immigrants also improve public finances.
And reason four, younger immigrants save aging countries. Europe and the US have aging populations. Immigrants balance that out. They work, they pay taxes, they support the pension systems. Without immigration, these systems start to crack. So they need immigrants.
But if immigrants are so valuable, then why are these countries restricting them? J. Shanka offers an uncomfortably honest explanation. Politics. It's just politics. Leaders want to show that they are protecting their people even when the real cause of job loss is automation and decades of outsourcing to China. It's easier to blame an engineer from Hyderabad than a corporation that moved its factory to Guangu.
You know often the people in the forefront of entrepreneurship and technology would actually make the case for mobility. It is the people who who I would say have a a certain political base or a constituency to address who may oppose it and they will probably reach some some modus vendi vendi there. And even Donald Trump knows this because as he's cracking down on immigration he's also saying that the US needs foreign talent.
It's also important to underline here that we are talking about legal immigration. Legal mobility is good. Illegal mobility can be dangerous. J. Shankar warns about trafficking, exploitation, and political elements hijacking illegal migration routes.
His message is not open borders. His message is smart borders. And where does that leave us? Well, we live in a world that wants growth but is scared of the very people who can deliver that growth. Minister Jesanker's message is simple. Talent will move. Tech will move. And if countries don't welcome the future, the future will pass them by. The West can build walls, but walls don't build economies.
I rose from the army with metals on my chest. I spoke of freedom from colonial chains, but I tightened my own. I filled prisons with ghosts. Nearly half a million people were butchered under my rule. And I trusted only my paranoia. I gave myself grand titles. I claim to be Africa's strong man. History calls me something else, the dictator. Who am I?
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