Immigration

[The H-1B visa issue] is not just an issue for Microsoft and Intel, it’s an issue for the American heartland. There are a lot of companies that need specialist skills, especially in STEM fields, and they just can’t find them locally so they have to search globally. —Neil Ruiz

It’s always been a really contentious issue—what to do about people who are here without legal status. There are a lot of people who have really well-formulated opinions about the border and illegal immigration, and it’s really hard to change their points of view, and so [legalization] is seen as contributing to the problem rather than contributing to a solution.

We need to have an immigration policy that recognizes the labor-force needs of this country, whatever they are. Clearly, we focus on the high-skilled workers because they have the greatest productivity for the economy. But low-skilled jobs are important, too. As we get a bigger middle-class population, we will need people to work in many of those lower-skilled jobs which may not be filled with our existing population.