Held up by work, I missed the first few minutes of Bush’s speech, but I heard enough.

This wasn’t discussed at all by anyone in the recent past, so I can’t say I’m disappointed, but it would’ve been nice to hear something about increasing the number of green cards offered annually. Let’s face it: we’re in desperate need of more engineers, scientists, and researchers. We’re losing ground in innovation, and I blame a large part of that on post-9/11 xenophobia. It’s so hard to get into the country, some of the world’s best students don’t bother to apply to study here anymore.

Worse, those students who do make it in are interrogated to make sure they have no intention of staying in the U.S. after their graduate studies are complete. Their acceptance at the best U.S. schools is a clear indication that they’re among the smartest people in the world. Why exactly are we encouraging them to leave? I’ve read a couple recommendations to automatically offer green cards to anyone who earns a Ph.D. in the U.S. Put me down as someone in full support of such an idea.

Actually, I don’t think I have much to write about what Bush actually did say tonight. I can’t complain too much about National Guard troops taking a non-law enforcement role on the border (keeping it non-militarized), aside from the unfairness of keeping these people constantly deployed. In fact, Bush’s tame approach to border control coupled with his plan to offer a path to citizenship will be a tough sell to the conservative House of Representatives. They’ll cry “amnesty” no matter how head-on Bush confronted that term tonight.

As a pro-immigration liberal, I have no problem with enforcing the country’s borders to keep out illegal immigrants. I do believe, however, that our economy and innovative leadership depends on finding the right immigrants to come over. Raise those immigration limits, Congress, and start taking notice of the importance of bringing over highly educated foreigners.