[cldellow]

I dunno, I think a country benefits when it imports talented people, full stop. Americans can be intelligent and capable, and companies can still benefit from hiring more people just like them (or, in some cases, more intelligent and more capable than them).

Perhaps it'd make sense to be protectionist if there was a fixed pool of employment/business opportunities, but I don't think that's the case for technology workers at the moment--lots of room at the margin for talented people.

I am possibly biased, though. I was in the US on an H1B for a few years from 2008-2011, but left due to the immigration bullshit.