Immigrants are humans.

My twin brother and I were deported when we were 12yo. I remember the uncertainty and fear as Hadi and I wondered if we'd be able to finish 7th grade, terrified of being sent back to Iran.

My heart goes out to the innocent people whose lives are needlessly cast into chaos by this week’s new visa rule. The H1B visa policy is the latest in a line of nativist policies, from Muslim ban to child separation, that hurt America and help nobody.

Immigrants are humans. Children in cages are humans. Breonna Taylor, now dead 100 days without justice, was a human. Connect the dots and see the pattern of reckless disregard for human lives and human rights.

The U.S. has been discriminating against ethnic minorities long before the “stable genius” in the White House. The U.S. should reopen to all travelers & immigrants. It should stop harassing, jailing, and killing innocent Black people. And stop putting children in cages.

Like virtually all of Silicon Valley, the Neo community includes many immigrants; our VC fund has backed many companies founded by immigrants; and many of the incredible engineers at those companies are immigrants on H1B visas.

While business leaders are warning of the economic toll of losing H1B workers, neglecting human rights weakens America far more.

As a tech investor, I don’t worry about the economic harm. In a post-COVID19 world, tech people will Zoom to work from anywhere in the world. Blocking immigrants won’t change this: the work will just go to where they are.

Remote work is here to stay, and will liberate opportunity from the bounds of geography. People with tech skills will earn great income regardless of where they‘re born and where they call home. This is a good thing — innovation will flourish in the U.S. while redistributing jobs and income to the places that invest in education. The American Dream will no longer be tethered to American land.

After deportation, Hadi and I were lucky to return swiftly to the US and eventually become citizens. Our academic parents and our cultural heritage that prized education empowered us to earn success. Sadly, many are born here with much less opportunity.

The best way to boost the economy and reduce inequality is to improve opportunity for all: make tech skills accessible to all, not just to a privileged few. I'm proud to have helped Hadi launch Code.org, which is bringing CS education to schools across America and the world.

P.S. Here's a short clip of Hadi and me on Bloomberg TV talking to Emily Chang about immigration and CS education in 2018.