MIT files amicus brief concerning executive order restricting travel to US
I applaud the move.  Yet it is important to put all the cards on the table.<p>I can&#x27;t help to be bothered by what could pass of hypocrisy at various levels.  The article explains that 40% of MIT&#x27;s grad students are &quot;international&quot;.  This means MIT&#x27;s problem is a BUSINESS problem.  At well over $50K per year per student the university-as-a-business (rather than an altruistic entity) is concerned about a drop in revenue should immigration policy change.  Let&#x27;s not pretend this is all about good intentions, pink unicorns and ice cream.  This is a business fighting for their revenue sources.  And they have every right --even the responsibility-- to do so.  I respect that.  No issues there so long as everyone is honest about it.<p>The other problem I have with all of these articles&#x2F;arguments is this image being painted that the US would be dumb as a rock if it weren&#x27;t for the influx of immigrants.  I&#x27;m sorry, I don&#x27;t buy that one bit.  We already have great talent in this country.  What we don&#x27;t have is affordable schools (and books, etc.).  A school like MIT (don&#x27;t mean to focus on them, pick any school) can charge exorbitant tuition to foreign-born students and make millions.  And the students pay for it.  Not so with us-born students.  Particularly given the state of the economy, unemployment, etc.<p>This idea that we better let-in hordes of immigrants for fear of not having businesses launched or any innovation is, well, repulsive.  That would mean we are a wasteland of a country, and need to be rescued by immigrants, which clearly isn&#x27;t the case.<p>This isn&#x27;t to say immigration isn&#x27;t good.  I am not anti-immigrant at all.  That would mean being against what allowed my own family to LEGALLY come to the US eons ago.  No.  My problem is with the fear-mongering that goes along with these arguments.  It&#x27;s dishonest and unnecessary.<p>It is OK to say we want immigrants because they are important to our continued cultural and economic growth.  It&#x27;s OK to say we want refugees because it is important to continue to define ourselves as a caring and socially conscious people.  These things don&#x27;t need to be embellished with &quot;if we don&#x27;t let immigrants in nobody is going to start companies, no jobs will be created and no innovation will be had&quot;.  Sorry, immigrants don&#x27;t have a monopoly on this.  And they sure as heck don&#x27;t have magical powers.  We have lots of very capable and creating people already in the country.   Let&#x27;s don&#x27;t diminish them to dumber-than-a-rock status.<p>As for MIT and other universities.  They should be honest and say &quot;we are going to lose a ton of money because we make a killing with foreign students&quot;.  I can respect that.  They are, after all, businesses.<p>On the other hand, if MIT had no foreign students and charged a LOT less for tuition it would be full of wonderful, capable, creative and eager-to-contribute US residents.  The problem is very few can justify spending over $200K on a university education today.  That&#x27;s what these universities are trying to protect.