NEW YORK, Dec 11: A Nobel prize laureate who called for liberalizing immigration laws for skilled workers from around the world, cautioned that the US should be careful about admitting students and skilled workers from countries “that have produced many terrorists, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan”.

In an Op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal, Gary S. Becker a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago and a 1992 Nobel prize winner said: “My attitude may be dismissed as religious profiling, but intelligent and fact-based profiling is essential in the war against terror.”

He said: “Terrorists come from a relatively small number of countries and backgrounds, unfortunately mainly of the Islamic faith. But the legitimate concern about admitting terrorists should not be allowed, as it is now doing, to deny or discourage the admission of skilled immigrants who pose little terrorist threat.”

Mr Becker said: “The right approach will be to greatly increase the number of entry permits to highly skilled professionals and eliminate the H-1 B programme, so that all such visas became permanent. Skilled immigrants such as engineers and scientists are in fields not attracting many Americans, and they work in IT industries, such as computers and biotech, which have become the backbone of the US economy.