The U.S. system forces thousands of valuable foreign-born professionals -- including badly needed researchers, scientists, teachers and engineers -- into legal and professional limbo for years. Not surprisingly, many are considering opportunities in competitor nations -- even those who have lived in the United States for years and have graduated from American universities.

To be competitive in the global economy, U.S. companies depend on specialized talent coming out of U.S. graduate schools. These scientists and engineers are often foreign-born, as more than half of U.S. engineering master's students and PhD recipients are international students. Yet America shuts the door on many of these highly educated graduates, forcing them to look abroad for opportunities -- and our competitors are capitalizing on our failed policies.

E.U. leaders recognize that the top minds coming out of universities in the United States and other countries can help to reinvigorate European industry and enable it to create the next wave of businesses that drive innovation and economic growth.

While its Blue Card proposal still requires approval by member countries, Europe has sent a message. It intends to aggressively pursue the professional talent necessary to compete on the global stage. The United States, on the other hand, seems intent on driving away the very same talent the European Union is rolling out the red carpet to welcome.

One work depicts former California Governor Pete Wilson, known for his harsh anti-immigration views, being consumed by Aztecs. In other works, Mickey Mouse is turned into a threatening symbol of United States imperialism and Christopher Columbus is seen as landing in the Americas in gunboats.

The exhibit, by Mexican-born artist Enrique Chagoya, who now lives in San Francisco, would provide plenty of ammunition for anti-immigration activists – all signs are in Spanish and English, George W. Bush is held up for ridicule in art pieces in which he morphs into Richard Nixon and a satirical Superman bursts out of Pilgrim garb. (...)

In its own way, the exhibit turns some of the current immigration debate on its head. One of the interpretive signs says that: “Chagoya points out that the Pilgrims were actually some of the first illegal aliens, who invaded and ultimately seized the land from the Native Americans.”

* A recent survey by Mexican authorities shows that fewer Mexicans say they are planning to seek work outside the country. In the third quarter of 2007, about 47,000 said they’d be packing their bags. That’s down nearly one-third from the same quarter a year earlier.

* U.S. border authorities arrested just under 877,000 illegal crossers in fiscal 2007, which ended in September, down 20% compared with the year before. A drop in apprehensions is often interpreted as a sign that fewer migrants are attempting the trip.

* The growth rate of the U.S. Mexican-born population has dropped by nearly half to 4.2% in 2007 from about 8% in 2005 and 2006, according to an analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center.

* Employment of foreign-born Hispanics increased at a markedly slower pace in the first quarter of 2007 than during the same period in the previous three years, according to Pew. The slowdown was particularly noticeable in the bellwether construction industry.

Growth in employment of foreign-born Hispanics in that sector was 10.9% early this year, compared with an average first-quarter growth rate of 19.8% from 2004 to 2006.

* The growth in remittances sent to Mexico has dwindled to a trickle. Through October of this year, Mexicans living abroad sent $20.4 billion home to their families, a 1.3% increase over the same period in 2006, according to Mexico’s central bank. Those sums were growing in excess of 20% annually just a few years ago.

• Secure borders. Border security must be a priority to real reform, and it can only come from Congress. Business owners should not be criminalized for the failure of the federal government, and immigration laws passed by state legislators will do little to stem the tide of illegal immigration.

• Legal immigration. For centuries the dream of coming to America has provided hope of living in a free and prosperous society. America’s broken immigration system actually prevents most immigrants who wish to come here legally, work hard, pay taxes and play by the rules.

• Strong economics. We are a nation strengthened economically by millions of immigrant workers. From the groceries we buy to the restaurants we eat in, to just about everything built in this country, all are made possible by an immigrant work force.