United States: Director Neera Tanden highlights concerns about partisanship in the immigration debate

Washington: Concerns about prejudices in the current immigration debate, especially with regard to Indian Americans, have been brought to light by Neera Tanden, Director of the US Domestic Policy Council.

“I am an Indian American who was born here, and it’s very evident that the Democratic Party views me as American, while a significant portion of the Republican Party base does not,” she said in a post on X (previously Twitter). At the next election, I hope Indian Americans will keep this in mind. You are not one of them in their eyes. And never will. You assumed they just detested other foreigners. However, it seems that you are not an exception. This is what many of us have been telling you.

Elon Musk also spoke to the conversation by highlighting how immigrants have shaped the technical scene in America. Musk wrote, X: “We called ‘Tesla’ after one of the greatest engineers in history, Nikola Tesla. He was a poor immigrant whose ideas made America the leader in the production and use of electricity.

President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Sriram Krishnan as the White House policy advisor on artificial intelligence has heightened the discussion around H-1B visas and immigration policy. There have been conflicting responses to Krishnan’s prior support for lifting the per-country limit on green cards. Some Trump supporters embrace this strategy because they believe it might help close important skills gaps in the IT industry, while others believe it goes against the administration’s larger immigration objectives.

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, has also voiced her opinion, highlighting the need of bolstering the American labor force. “Invest in our education system if the tech industry needs workers,” she said, looking back on her term. Put money into our American labor force. Before we look overseas, we must invest in Americans. The American spirit and skill should never be undervalued.

Haley emphasized how her government trained residents for high-skilled jobs in sectors like aerospace and automotive manufacturing while lowering unemployment in South Carolina by luring in foreign investment.

Deeper rifts in US immigration policy, especially with respect to striking a balance between skilled immigration and local labor growth, have been made clear by the H1B visa controversy. Given that 72% of H-1B holders in fiscal year 2023 were Indian laborers, this problem also affects US-India ties.