Mario Diaz-Balart Quotes
Immigration is a sensitive topic.
Diaz-Balart, Mario. Interview. Fox News Sunday, Fox News, 10 Feb. 2013.
When he became a national candidate, he flip flopped and modified this position to accommodate the strong anti-immigration preference of most of the Republican right wing base.
The United States policies at the time encouraged tens of thousands of foreigners to study in America—especially mathematics, science and engineering. Then after they graduate we expel them despite the fact that we have a great labor shortage of these technical skill areas. The result is that the American economy lags in one of its most important areas, high technology for lack of qualified people to fill the jobs. Larger American companies then set up operations overseas and hire many of the people who we kicked out, so they do not pay any taxes to America. The best and most ambitious of these American trained foreigners, then start their own businesses abroad, create many jobs that never benefit Americans and then sell to America competing with American firms. New York City alone had tens of thousands of open jobs at very high salaries for which there were no Americans to fill while the New York schools had trained enough foreigners to fill the jobs, but our national policies forced the best and the brightest to leave and compete with us.
Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart Caballero is a Republican U.S. Representative for Florida's 25th congressional district. He was elected in 2002, and his current district includes much of southwestern Miami-Dade County, including the city of Hialeah, and much of the northern portion of the Everglades.
