Looking for a "right" answer here is a lost cause. These are preference- and value-based policies, and we just have to cohere around a set of values that drive

Looking for a "right" answer here is a lost cause. These are preference- and value-based policies, and we just have to cohere around a set of values that drive our policies. If it was framed in terms of "I value this" then the moral defensiveness would probably subside a little. It is my opinion that any argument against a native birthright to work and collectively demand the peak wage you can get is a fools errand. It just seems a natural extension of labor unions to have the whole country itself block access to jobs for foreign workers, to the extent that it does not subsequently drive ourselves out of a job through non-competitiveness. USA (arguably!) does not have a competitiveness problem yet in tech. But it also fits with the value of competition to have foreign workers enable our own businesses to succeed, such that they enable it through irreplaceable innovation, rather than wage suppression. Stealing scientists makes sense. Importing cheap labor does not. So, on paper, it fits with my values. In practice, that's another problem, and that's where we can change it.