However, the claim that immigrant employees are somehow not as good as their American counterparts is based on shoddy logic.
The criteria he uses in his paper to measure this:
- high salary - high rate of patent production - Ph.D. dissertation awards - doctorate earned at a top-ranked university - employment in R&D
Because of issues with the employment based visa, he himself argues earlier in the article that immigrant employees end up with a lower salary.
Top ranked universities don't always admit people based on merit. Being in the country when applying to school and speaking the language have huge advantages. A lot of graduate admissions are on a case by case basis, and getting an in person meeting with the professor can make all the difference. Also, top graduate schools tend to be a lot more expensive.
Employment is R&D is also hampered by the fact that immigrants don't have comparatively fewer choices when looking for a job, again because of issues with employment based visas. This is especially true is you want to do research in aerospace or materials because of security clearances.
Overall, this doesn't give me a lot of confidence in his other analyses.
Disclaimer: I'm an immigrant, so I'm not without my biases here.