83% of AMERICA'S TOP SCIENCE STUDENTS ARE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS ... BUT HISTORY TELLS US THIS ISN'T REALLY NEWS

Albert Einstein immigrated to the U.S. Would he be welcome, or harassed today?

Donald Trump's baseless travel ban, and his racist war against people of color (let's call it what it is), will end up damaging the United States over the long term if it continues to discourage people from coming to America. Already the tourism industry is reporting financial losses after Donald Trump became president, which is eerily similar to what happened when the United States reported hundreds of billions of dollars in losses after the xenophobic anti-Muslim hysteria that gripped the nation after September 11, 2001.

But this is not an empty scare tactic about lost business opportunities in modern America. No, it's about what America will lose in the future.

Forbes magazine is reporting that 83% of America's top high school science students are the children of immigrants. Specifically, Forbes writes:

What would we lose if immigrants could no longer come to America? Surprisingly, one of the most important things America would lose is the contributions made by their children.

A new study from the National Foundation for American Policy found a remarkable 83% (33 of 40) of the finalists of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search were the children of immigrants. The competition organized each year by the Society for Science & the Public is the leading science competition for U.S. high school students. In 2017, the talent search competition was renamed the Regeneron Science Talent Search, after its new sponsor Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,and a new group of 40 finalists – America's next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians – are competing in Washington, D.C., from March 9 to 15, 2017.

Both family-based and employment-based immigrants were parents of finalists in 2016. In fact, 75% – 30 out of 40 – of the finalists had parents who worked in America on H-1B visas and later became green card holders and U.S. citizens. That compares to seven children who had both parents born in the United States ...

If the scientific and intellectual capital that lies at the heart of America were to slowly drain away over the next few decades - because of the Trump administration's incessant race-baiting and ethnic scapegoating - rest assured that much of the economic dynamism and energy that supplies places like the Silicon Valley with talent and creativity would disappear as well.

The founders of Google and Yahoo!, for example, were both immigrants. Heck, the father of Steve Jobs was a Syrian immigrant (a political refugee).

Where would they go in Trump's America? Your guess is as good as mine. But one thing is clear: making America fear and hate (again) is no way to make it great.

You can read the remainder of the Forbes article by clicking here.

- Mark

Hat tip to Agulia for the link.