“We Are Americans”: Indian-American ‘Dreamer’ To US Lawmakers

An Indian-American documented dreamer has instructed lawmakers that she is an American and hopes to be recognized as one and now no longer compelled to go away americaA in 8 months withinside the absence of any significant legislative reforms withinside the immigration device that addressed the difficulty of elderly out kids. Documented dreamers are kids who come to the US as dependants in their parents – who themselves have felony allow to paintings withinside the US, like retaining the H-1B overseas paintings visa. When those kids flip 21 years of age, they lose their dependency popularity.

“Without a alternate in 8 months, I can be compelled to go away, now no longer handiest my domestic of twenty years however additionally my mother who’s my handiest own circle of relatives left,” Athulya Rajakumar, a 23-12 months-antique latest graduate of the University of Texas at Austin from the Moody College of Communication, instructed participants of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety on Tuesday.

Testifying earlier than the subcommittee in the course of a listening to on “Removing Barriers to Legal Migration,” the Indian-American instructed the Senators that over 5,000 documented dreamers face this each 12 months.

“We are Americans, and all we are hoping is to be recognized as that, to ultimately provide which means to the lives we’ve lived right here so some distance. I desire you may enhance the dream for all of us,” Ms Rajakumar stated.

“I found out very younger that each thing of my lifestyles might be managed via way of means of my popularity,” she stated.

“Erin, a nursing graduate become compelled to self-deport final summer time season withinside the midst of a pandemic,…a statistics analyst scholar become compelled to self-deport months ago, Summer can be compelled to self-deport in 4 months, despite the fact that her own circle of relatives has legally resided right here for the reason that she become a baby,” she stated.

An aspiring journalist, Ms Rajakumar, from Washington State, shared the tale of her own circle of relatives’s battle via years of immigration limbo, which contributed to her brother’s tragic death.

“I’m outraged via way of means of this damaged device that you, your brother, and lots of documented dreamers have needed to face. We organised this listening to nowadays due to the fact we can not permit the state of no activity of Congress to maintain to reason this suffering,” Senator Alex Padilla stated in his remarks.

Mr Padilla is chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, Barriers to felony migration mechanically separate households throughout worldwide borders for years, he stated.

“Visa caps that preserve employers from increasing their companies and preserve again americaA economy, an arbitrary cutoff for felony popularity that compelled kids, visa holders, to go away the handiest usa they have ever recognised after they age out in their parents’ visas. The hole among our usa’s wishes and the realities of our damaged immigration device have to come as no surprise,” Mr Padilla stated.

According to the Senator, currently, there may be a backlog of 1.four million folks that are eligible for employment-primarily based totally visas.

“Employment-primarily based totally visas permit collaborating immigrants to deliver extremely good abilties to our workforce, begin new companies, create new jobs in rural areas, and to assist deal with employee shortages in industries like fitness care,” he stated.

“But handiest 140,000 of those people can gain visas each 12 months. Because the spouses and kids who accompany them be counted number towards the total, some distance fewer than 70,000 visas simply visit eligible employees. Hundreds of lots of others are left in limbo, confined via way of means of a brief visa, or grew to become farfar from their desires and they may be saved from realising their capacity,” he stated.

Ranking Member Senator John Cornyn stated the Congressional Research Service currently expected that with out full-size changes, the employment-primarily based totally inexperienced card backlog may want to exceed 2 million via way of means of 2030.

Employment-primarily based totally visas, additionally referred to as inexperienced cards, permit migrants to advantage lawful everlasting house withinside the US in an effort to interact in professional paintings.

“Indian nationals had been hit specially difficult due to the fact our device’s according to-usa caps do now no longer permit them to acquire greater than seven according to cent of the to be had employment-primarily based totally visas in any given 12 months,” he stated.

“To make topics worse because of processing inefficiencies attributable in component to USCIS’ paper-primarily based totally device and to the closures of a lot of our consulates, we fail to trouble as many as 92,000 employment-primarily based totally visas withinside the peak of the pandemic,” he stated.

Ms Rajakumar instructed lawmakers that she were given a full-time provide from a prime information enterprise in Houston, a pinnacle 10 market, however the equal agency who noticed her capacity withdrew their provide the second one they heard approximately her visa popularity. “But worst of all, being taken into consideration an alien, an intruder withinside the handiest location you realize to name domestic is a exclusive sort of pain,” she stated.

Dip Patel, president of Improve The Dream, in a statement, stated that Ms Rajakumar’s transferring testimony suggests the pressing want to replace the damaged device, which includes the want to completely stop the hassle of ageing for kids who’re raised and knowledgeable withinside the United States.

“For lots of younger human beings developing up with uncertainty, there may be consistent tension concerning one’s destiny in what we don’t forget our domestic. Delay in taking movement will now no longer handiest lead to ripping greater households aside however additionally maintain the titanic emotional turmoil confronted via way of means of lots of households who make contributions to our usa and contact America domestic. We urge Congress to don’t forget this and act rapid to byskip common-experience immigration reform,” he stated.

During the listening to, Mr Padilla wondered Ms Rajakumar approximately her enjoy as a documented dreamer and the way a pathway to citizenship and the enactment of America’s Children Act might effect her lifestyles.

Ms Rajakumar pointed to the reality that it might imply that she would not should be separated from her own circle of relatives and the usa she’s referred to as her domestic for the final twenty years.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that lets in US businesses to rent overseas employees in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The generation businesses rely upon it to rent tens of lots of personnel every 12 months from nations like India and China.