"Let's start by increasing the number of permanent resident visas available for the 1 million engineers, scientists, doctors, and researchers and their families

"Let's start by increasing the number of permanent resident visas available for the 1 million engineers, scientists, doctors, and researchers and their families who are in the U.S. legally but trapped in immigration limbo." My problem with this is that a recent RAND study found that Americans are avoiding careers in science and engineering because these fields have become uncompetitive with the professions (law, mba, md, dds, etc) in terms of salary, job stability, and career prospects. In other words, a "shortage", to the extent that it exists, may be a rational response by americans to poor career prospects. It might not make sense to use the immigration system to increase the pool of PhD level scientists and engineers when the most objective research available is concluding that these careers have lost their luster. At the very least, we should recognize that this would probably provide even greater deterrence for people in the US who do have the right to choose their career path. I tend to favor a points-based system in the US, something more similar to Canada or Australia. I've read about these systems, and while they certainly give credit to scientists and engineers, they appear to be very broad-based (plumbers, lawyers, and electricians get more points than programmers in Australia, last time I looked). One thing I do agree with - the current system is horrible, the worst of all worlds. We bring in lots of "guest workers", targeting fields that probably aren't experiencing any shortage, and we create an indentured system that in my opinion pretty much violates the concept of personal freedom. It's a crappy system for immigrant and american scientists and engineers, but it does serve a few interests very well. I pretty much say this every time: take a large but not unlimited number of immigrants, value education and skills in the abstract but avoid focusing too narrowly on any particular trade, profession, or skill set, and give immigrants full freedom to determine their own course in life (ie., no geographical or career restrictions).