In the face of calls to limit humanitarian access to US immigration by Syrian refugees, the US government has several venues for alleviating the suffering caused by the crisis without provoking nativist reactions on security and economic grounds.
Setting aside a quota for Syrians in the well-established H1B visa program accomplishes several objectives:
- It recognizes the unique nature of the Syrian crisis, where members of all professions and walks of life are fleeing a completely destroyed economy.
- It maximizes the economic benefit to the US economy, with a view to offsetting any costs associated with purely humanitarian quotas.
- It increases the diversity of the beneficiaries of H1B visas, who in the past few years have predominantly come from two countries and five companies.