Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar said Tuesday that the US has a broken immigration system and should be replaced by an orderly process that benefits the US, its economy and helps create American jobs.

America is a nation of immigrants and yet we have a broken immigration system, Thanedar said during a Congressional hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on the Fiscal Year 2025 Department of Homeland Security Budget Request.

In 1979, growing up in poverty, I was fortunate to have gotten admission into a PhD programme in the United States to study. And that would have changed my life. And I went to the American embassy in Mumbai. Got there at 5 am in the morning, stood in line, only to be denied my student visa, he said.

The embassy continued to deny it four more times. The fifth time, the visa got approved, only because the denying officer was on vacation to the United States. You know, our H-1B visas are an issue. Our immigration — country quotas are creating such a stressful environment for families. Technology companies are unable to find a skilled workforce, Thanedar said.

Countries like Canada and Australia are taking away some of the skilled workforce, because of the America’s broken immigration system, he said.

I want to see an orderly immigration process that benefits the United States, that benefits our economy and helps create American jobs, said the Indian-American Congressman.

Homeland and Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that on his very first day in office, President Joe Biden presented congress with a comprehensive legislative package to fix, the broken immigration system.

To advance that piece of legislation and to advance the Senate’s bipartisan legislation would transform our broken immigration system and reform it. It hasn’t been reformed since 1996. It is long outdated and long broken, he said.

First Published: Apr 17 2024 | 8:12 AM IST