U.S. immigration policy is slightly better than you think

Keep in mind that Canadian immigration policy also is U.S. immigration policy.  Currently Canada is taking in about 400,000 people a year, with plans to raise that to 500,000. At the same time, the U.S. is doing little to boost high-skilled immigration.  But Canada is serving as a kind of farm system for the U.S.  The very best Canadian arrivals — or their children — have the best chance of getting into the United States, if only through O-1 visas.

So if the quantity of Canadian immigration is going up, the quality of U.S. immigration is going up too, through Canada in this case.  Call it cherry-picking if you like.

Not surprisingly, neither side in the immigration debate wants to scream this loudly from the rooftops.  The pro-immigration side wants to present the status quo as dire.  The immigration-skeptical side does not want to stress that there are perfectly good ways of screening for immigrant quality, some of which already are in place.