Why Mark Zuckerberg cares about immigration reform

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg launched a new organization, called Fwd.us, to advocate for immigration reform in the United States. The group has laid out its priorities for immigration reform: Secure the U.S. border; modify the guest worker program to increase the number of visas for skilled workers; develop a “simple and effective” system to verify employment; create a clear path for immigrants to become U.S. citizens; and reform the legal immigration system. Why do they care? Immigration reform is an issue near and dear to the tech industry, which has repeatedly complained that the current system restricts U.S. companies’ ability to recruit and retain high-quality engineering and programming talent. Tech industry groups have thrown support behind congressional legislation that would boost the number of H-1B visas — visas given to highly skilled workers — issued each year and that would grant permanent residency status to students who earn graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.