I just found out that there is a mistake on the resume that I have been sending out in my job applications.

A member of Cornell Career Services notified me this week that this error accounts for why I failed to secure an interview with a potential employer.

I’m not talking about some wee, negligible oversight — a “9” where there should be an “8,” a double space instead of a single one. I’m talking about a mother load of a blunder, as monstrous and glaring as it is undeniably and irreversibly catastrophic.

Under my “Home Address,” I have the following listed:

Toronto, Ontario

Canada

Not a grammatical glitch or a formatting failure, but a stain on my record all the same.

[“This email is being sent to all students who … did not receive an interview.”]

I blame Obama.

In February of this year, the administration started making things a lot more difficult for international students looking for employment in the U.S., including myself. “The Employ American Workers Act” (EAWA) restricts companies that get federal bailout money from hiring foreign students on H1-B visas (the kind of visa I would need to stay here beyond about June 2010).

Currently, about 85,000 people a year are granted this temporary work permit.

The act doesn’t actually ban international workers outright, but it imposes a series of restrictions, which effectively do just that.

Companies that might want to hire this eager undergrad, for example, would have to prove that they had not “displaced” an American worker in the process. They would also have to demonstrate that they made a genuine effort to find an American to fill the spot before settling on a paltry Canadian. In a period of massive layoffs, that’s virtually impossible to do.

Goodbye, friends. It’s been swell, eh?

Some experts think the Act could bring about the end of all temporary worker programs.

And goodbye, too, to hopes of a global America.

[“Thank you for applying for an internship at X. I’m sorry to tell you that you were not selected … Perhaps our paths will cross again. In the meantime, we wish you much success.”]

On a philosophical level, this just seems profoundly at odds with Obama’s campaign message — his talk of a worldwide community and a global marketplace —his belief in a restored international image.

On Election Day, the world stood behind him.

When The Economist endorsed him, it was in spite of his “inexperience,” but in the hopes that “America’s allies would rally to him” and with the knowledge that “the global electorate … shows a landslide in his favour.”

(And yes, that’s how the world spells “favour.”)

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who fought for the new restriction, claims:

“While we are suffering through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the very least we can do is to make sure that banks receiving a taxpayer bailout are not allowed to import cheaper labor from overseas while they are throwing American workers out on the street.”

Throwing American workers out on the street? For a bunch of flighty foreigners? That’s scandalous!

The New York Times readers, commenting online about a recent article, seemed to agree:

“It is long past time to put an end to this, by cancelling the H1B program outright, and requiring that all H1B visa holders go home.” — Mike Morrin

“What a crock! Americans are laid off and replaced with the average and below Indians who come here to work but have no desire whatsoever to become citizens.” — Sal

“Why can’t these ‘elites’ do something striking in their own land.” — Bobbi

A small sample of an overwhelmingly unified call to arms.

Jingoism? Certainly. A kind of veiled xenophobia? Maybe.

Sure, it was in large part Wall Street, USA’s irresponsibility that caused this mess in the first place. But that won’t stop this administration from taking this opportunity to shut out its high-skill labor market to those countries it harmed along the way.

[“Dear Applicants, We had a tremendous response to our posting … However, I regret to inform you that you were not selected as a final candidate. Best of luck with your search for a satisfying and challenging employment opportunity.”]

But there’s also a strong argument to make that this policy will ultimately harm the very Yankees it’s trying to protect.

Let’s face it, a lot of the American competitive advantage has nothing to do with Americans … but, instead, has everything to do with the bright, highly educated students that America so successfully saps from the rest of world.

A time of crisis is exactly a time when companies must be free to maximize innovation, even if that means importing innovation from abroad.

“Brain Drain. Brain Drain,” is what my high school teacher chanted when I told her I was coming to Cornell.

Over half of Silicon Valley tech start-ups between 1995 and 2005 were founded by immigrants. Intel. Yahoo. Sun Microsystems. Google. In 2005, those companies generated $52 billion and employed 450,000 workers — many of them American.

About 60 percent of engineering Ph.Ds are foreigners.

Over a quarter of the U.S.’s global patents were filed by foreign nationals working here.

Thanks for all your hard work, but …

Last month, Bank of America Corp announced that it was being forced to lay-off its international student hirers as a result of the new bill. Not a merit-based decision. But a calculation based on crude national distinctions.

It doesn’t even seem legal!

But the Obama administration flexed its muscles — made itself an effective part of the HR team in the country’s biggest banks — and that was that.

[Dear Katie … While I’m sure you’d be a great asset to X, we’ve had to make some tough choices. Good luck in your future pursuits. Best, Y”]

OK. But who is to trust a self-entitled Canadian columnist?

And shouldn’t American jobs be the most protected?

Well, the strangest thing is that, at the same time as this program is making things tough for a few thousand highly-educated foreigners, Obama has announced a new plan to allow as many as 12 million lesser-skilled illegal immigrants to gain legal status.

You just spent time and resources educating me. And now you’re going to send me back … at the same time that millions of unskilled laborers will be allowed to stay?

The reverse brain drain has started.

Thousands of immigrants are leaving every month. A Duke University survey showed that the majority want to start their own companies, viewing their home nations as more receptive to new business opportunities.

I spent my day looking into UK citizenship.

Toodle-oo!

It’s not just these new restrictions that are the problem. It’s the complexity and costliness of the whole system — one that turns the possibility of a real global market into a jumbled bureaucratic mess.

Obama may seem like the whole world’s president. But if he shuts out the whole world’s workers, that image may not last.

The company that declined to interview me, for one, didn’t want to deal with any of this. Cornell Career Services explained why:

“Dear Katie: I am hard pressed to understand why you did not receive an interview … Katie, are you Canadian? Unfortunately…”

Katie Engelhart is a former Sun Senior Editor and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She may be contacted at kengelhart@cornellsun.com. Don’t Shoot the Messenger appears alternate Thursdays this semester.