This immigration policy is a winner. It just needs a champion (New Op-ed at the Washington Post)

Even the most anti-immigration voter will back a program that’s clearly beneficial to the country

I have a new op-ed (paywall-free) in The Washington Post arguing that some immigration policies are already popular and politicians just need the courage to claim them:

Nearly 80 percent of American voters support high-skilled immigration, across party lines. That is more popular than nuclear power, building apartments, or deregulation. And yet not a single major political figure in either party is willing to champion it.

Republicans know the country needs foreign scientists and engineers. Most will say so privately. But they refuse to say it publicly, terrified of being outflanked on their right.

The left has a different version of the same cowardice: the abundance crowd wants more housing, more energy, more growth, but has quietly decided immigration is too dangerous to include in their pitch.

The piece proposes two concrete moves that do not require Congress: promote and expand the O-1A extraordinary-ability visa, which has no cap and no lottery, and fix how the government sets wages for foreign workers.

The Labor Department’s public comment window on the proposed prevailing wage rule closes May 26. If you work in research, tech, or immigration, submit a comment before it’s too late.

I’d love to hear what readers think I’m getting wrong or what’s missing from the argument. After all, if this were that easy and obvious, some Republican or Democrat would already be trying it much more forcefully.

P.S. As a fun tidbit for my readers, this is actually the first cold pitch I ever landed. That is, I just literally emailed a WaPo editor with the pitch and the piece, and they were like—yep, let’s publish it. This never happened before quite like that.

Probably non-coincidentally, this is also the most revised and re-revised 1,000 words of my career. Thanks to all the The Roots of Progress folks who have read and edited the piece for pushing me over and over again and making it all possible.