President Obama's immigration actions help tech industry

[Commentary] Silicon Valley's economy is booming, but 2014 has been a rough year for tech's political clout. The industry has come up empty on four issues critical to its health: network neutrality, patent reform, National Security Agency reform and immigration reform. President Barack Obama did what he could within the limits of his executive authority to help the Valley on immigration. He made it easier for foreign students and entrepreneurs to set up shop in the Valley and eased the hardships of families that include US citizens or kids brought here through no fault of their own. But he could not legally deliver on the reform tech companies want most: raising the limit on H-1B visas to allow more qualified tech workers from overseas to work here. That would require Congress to act.