Microsoft and the H-1B visa isn't the main problem. The H1-B's may be abused, but at least they bring in people with brains and education. The numbers are relatively small, compared with the flood of illiterate and/or hostile (think Other than Mexican) illegal aliens that flood across the Mexican border with the connivance of the last three administrations.
The author is absolutely right in that there is a maximum cultural absorption rate. Above that, and with aggravating factors such as a common non-American culture in a large subgroup (Aztlan or Islam), there is no blending; there is Balkanization. If you an analogy helps, think about solutions (aqueous or metallic alloy). Above a certain amount, the new adulterants don't mix; they precipitate.
I never said it was. I have advocated a merit based system of immigration vice the kinship system we have now. We could do away with programs like H1B if we were more selective about who received an immigrant visa (versus a work visa.)
The author is absolutely right in that there is a maximum cultural absorption rate. Above that, and with aggravating factors such as a common non-American culture in a large subgroup (Aztlan or Islam), there is no blending; there is Balkanization. If you an analogy helps, think about solutions (aqueous or metallic alloy). Above a certain amount, the new adulterants don't mix; they precipitate.
The 1965 Immigration bill is what has caused much of our current problems. The 1965 Immigration Act: Anatomy of a Disaster
Here are some quotes at the time the 1965 bill was being proposed:
Edward Kennedy: ""Out of deference to the critics, I want to comment on … what the bill will not do. First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same … Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset … Contrary to the charges in some quarters, S.500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and economically deprived nations of Africa and Asia. In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think. Thirdly, the bill will not permit the entry of subversive persons, criminals, illiterates, or those with contagious disease or serious mental illness. As I noted a moment ago, no immigrant visa will be issued to a person who is likely to become a public charge … the charges I have mentioned are highly emotional, irrational, and with little foundation in fact. They are out of line with the obligations of responsible citizenship. They breed hate of our heritage."
Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY):"In fact, the distribution of limited quota immigration can have no significant effect on the ethnic balance of the United States. … Total quota immigration is now 156,782; under the proposed bill, it would rise to 164,482. Even if all these immigrants came from Italy, for example, the net effect would be to increase the number of Italo-Americans by one-tenth of 1 percent of our population this year, and less as our population increases. Americans of Italian extraction now constitute about 4 percent of our population; at this rate, considering our own natural increase, it would take until the year 2000 to increase that proportion to 6 percent. Of course, S.500 would make no such radical change. Immigration from any single country would be limited to 10 percent of the total-16,500-with the possible exception of the two countries now sending more than that number, Great Britain and Germany. But the extreme case should set to rest any fears that this bill will change the ethnic, political, or economic makeup of the United States. … [w]e bar immigration by those individuals who would compete for jobs for which the supply of labor is adequate for the demand … we bar immigration by individuals who have demonstrated that they do not hold such allegiance [to our fundamental precepts of political freedom and democratic government]. … If it is true that those from northern Europe, as individuals, can make greater contributions to this country than can others, then this legislation will bring them here. If the legislation does not bring them here, then the assumptions on which defenders of the present system rely are wholly false. … [S.500] will facilitate the entry of skilled specialists … the level of immigration now proposed is far less than that thought 'assimilable' by the most restrictionist Congress [1924] in our history. … As far as the quota system, it [S.500] increases it about 9,000 and as far as a practical matter, it increases it about 50,000. It is not a large number."
Senator Hiram Fong (R-HI): "… the people who have built up America, Anglo-Saxons, and the northern peoples of Europe, are not discriminated against in this bill. … the people from that part of the world [the Asia-Pacific Triangle] probably will never reach 1 percent of the [U.S.] population. … Our cultural pattern will never be changed as far as America is concerned.… It will become more cosmopolitan but still there is that fundamental adherence to European culture. … We feel those people [from northern Europe] who have been preferred in former immigration bills would still be treated fairly. … one of the reasons why the United States was attacked, on December 7, 1941, was because of these exclusionary laws [the 1924 Immigration Act] which had fomented so much bad feeling between the peoples of Japan and the United States."
Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach: "This bill is not designed to increase or accelerate the number of newcomers permitted to come to America. this bill would retain all the present security and health safeguards of the present law. the overall effect of this bill on employment would, first of all, be negligible, and second, that such effect as might be felt would not be harmful, but beneficial. The actual net increase in total immigration under this bill would be about 60,000. Those immigrants who seek employment are estimated at a maximum of 24,000. Our present labor force, however, is 77 million. Statistically or practically, we are talking about an infinitesimal amount; 24,000 is about three one-hundredths of 1 percent of 77 million a good part of even these 24,000 additional workers would not even be competitors for jobs held or needed by Americans. I would expect very little change in the immigration from the Western Hemisphere."
Finally, on October 3, at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, in signing H.R. 2580 into law (Public Law 89-236), President Lyndon Johnson stated: “…this is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives…” (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 89th Congress, lst Session, 1965, Volume XXI, p.479, Congressional Quarterly Service, Inc.)