No light at the end of the tunnel for children of legal immigrants in the United States.
Washington:
There appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel for children of legal immigrants, a significant number of whom are Indian-Americans who came to the US with their parents as young children and are now at risk of deportation back to the country . where they don’t know anyone because they get older when they turn 21.
There are approximately 250,000 such children of legal immigrants, a significantly large number of whom are Indians. The White House on Thursday blamed Republicans for the legislative deadlock.
“I talked about the bipartisan agreement that came out of the Senate where we negotiated a process to help the so-called documented Dreamers. And unfortunately, Republicans, and I’ve said this many times on this stage today, which is that they They voted it down twice,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.
Last month, a bipartisan group of 43 lawmakers led by Senator Alex Padilla, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security, and Representative Deborah Ross, called on the Biden administration to take urgent action to address the more than 250,000 documented protect dreamers. – children of long-term visa holders – who are at risk of moving beyond their dependent status and forced to deport themselves if they do not qualify for another status.
“These young people grow up in the United States, complete their education in the American school system, and graduate with degrees from American institutions,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, due to the long green card backlog, families with approved immigrant applications often have to wait decades for permanent resident status,” they said in a June 13 letter to the Biden administration.
Last month, Improve The Dream, an organization representing these children of legal immigrants, met with more than 100 congressional offices and top administration officials.
“It is disappointing to see that the lack of action and related proposed regulations are deprioritized and postponed. It’s time for action and I hope President Biden and the administration see the support of this bipartisan letter and show that they care about one of the most bipartisan issues in the world. Congress and right the mistakes of the past,” said Dip Patel, founder of Improve The Dream.
At the same time, he expressed gratitude for the bipartisan members of Congress who sent a letter asking for urgent administrative policy improvements and who continue to advocate for a permanent solution through Congress.
“I was forced to start visa hopping to stay in this country when I was 20 years old, right before I got older, as a junior at the University of Minnesota – Duluth. I’m about to turn 27 in August If my time spent fishing was personified, they would soon be older than I was when I first came to the United States,” Jefrina, currently a graduate student pursuing my MBA at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, told me. PTI.
She came to the US from India in 2005 at the age of 7. “I arrived on a dependent H-4 visa. My family applied for permanent residency in 2010 when I was 12 years old, and I unknowingly fell in love with this country. Over the past 19 years, Minnesota has undoubtedly become my home,” said she.
“My life as a young adult has consisted of a series of workarounds to avoid self-deportation. I am graduating from my master’s program in December and I am once again at the crossroads of leaving my family, pets, friends, and a host of unquantifiable reasons why I call Minnesota home,” said Jefrina.
Praneetha, a cloud engineer based in Texas, who came to the US with her family when she was 8 years old because she was dependent on her parents’ work visa, and after living in the US for more than 15 years, has no clear path to permanent residency and must jump from visa to visa to continue living and working in the country.
Roshan was forced to leave the US last month. He worked with an American semiconductor manufacturing company. He came to the US with his mother and brother at the age of 10 on an H4 visa. He grew up in Boston and graduated from Boston College in 2021 with a degree in economics.
Roshan grew up in the US for almost 16 years, but became a parent in 2019. He was forced to leave the US in June without a clear path to return, living and working in the only country he truly called home.
Patel said that every day without action results in young adults, who were legally raised in the United States by skilled workers and small business owners, being forced to leave the country, separating them from their families and affecting their ability to contribute. carrying to the country is stopped. .
The government has heard countless stories and examples of American-raised and educated STEM and healthcare talent (which makes up 87% of all people affected by the aging population, according to Improvement The Dream research) who are now contributing in other countries as a result of barriers in our legal immigration system.
“Our country is not only losing young talent who grew up and trained here, but we are also losing many of their parents, who have years of practical experience as small business owners or in fields such as medicine, engineering and artificial intelligence. The economic case is clear and the moral case is clear. It’s common sense,” he said in response to a question.
“All major administrative actions have excluded this population from receiving benefits, despite the tools for such assistance being available and used for others. “Until Congress can pass the bipartisan America’s Children Act, we need urgent action from the administration to prioritize this issue, which has bipartisan support from Congress and the general public, and clear economic benefit,” Patel told Press Trust or India.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)