Law360, New York ( February 23, 2015, 11:21 PM EST) -- On a rainy Sunday evening in Los Angeles, a Mexican immigrant mounts the stairs of a packed auditorium, visibly emotional. The man's name is Alejandro González Iñárritu and over the course of the evening, he accepts awards for both the Best Director and Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards for his film, Birdman, which he wrote and directed. In accepting the latter award, Iñárritu jokes that the government may need to "inflict some immigration rules [on] the academy — two Mexicans in a row, that's suspicious, I guess" — presumably referring to the prior year's awardee for Best Director, Alfonso Cuarón, also of Mexican descent. This concept of imposing a quota on the number of Mexicans who can receive Oscar awards sounds preposterous. Yet, our current immigration system imposes quotas based on national origin every day on individuals in the permanent residence/green card process with no regard to the economic and social interests of the nation or its need for a particular skill set. Our nation, including this year's Best Director awardee, must have a better system if we are to retain our role as the leader of the free world....