Author: Our Correspondent
Publication: Dawn
Date: December 12, 2005
URL: http://dawn.com/2005/12/12/top7.htm
A Nobel prize laureate who called for liberalizing
immigration laws for skilled workers from around the world, cautioned that
the US should be careful about admitting students and skilled workers from
countries "that have produced many terrorists, such as Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan".
In an Op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal,
Gary S. Becker a professor of economics and sociology at the University of
Chicago and a 1992 Nobel prize winner said: "My attitude may be dismissed
as religious profiling, but intelligent and fact-based profiling is essential
in the war against terror."
He said: "Terrorists come from a relatively
small number of countries and backgrounds, unfortunately mainly of the Islamic
faith. But the legitimate concern about admitting terrorists should not be
allowed, as it is now doing, to deny or discourage the admission of skilled
immigrants who pose little terrorist threat."
Mr Becker said: "The right approach will
be to greatly increase the number of entry permits to highly skilled professionals
and eliminate the H-1 B programme, so that all such visas became permanent.
Skilled immigrants such as engineers and scientists are in fields not attracting
many Americans, and they work in IT industries, such as computers and biotech,
which have become the backbone of the US economy.
