Washington:
US President Joe Biden has been quite clear about “restoring compassion and order” to the country’s immigration technique, the White House mentioned on Thursday and noted that a series of executive actions signed by him in the final couple of weeks are just the starting.
“The executive actions signed thus far are just the beginning,” a White House spokesperson told PTI.
“President Biden has been very clear about restoring compassion and order to our immigration system, and correcting the divisive, inhumane, and immoral policies of the past four years, which is our focus in the coming weeks and months,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The spokesperson was responding to a query on an influential immigration advocacy group representing Indian-Americans urging the Biden administration not to challenge the most sought-just after H-1B work visa to any person born in India, till the time the discriminatory nation-cap on green cards or permanent legal residency is removed.
In a statement, Aman Kapoor, president of Immigration Voice named on the Biden administration to use its authority below INA Section 212(f) to exclude any new person born in India who are not presently in the United States legally from acquiring a new H-1B visa for the initially time in Fiscal Year 2022.
The White House, on the other hand, did not say if the administration intends to challenge such an order. At the very same time, it has committed itself to a complete immigration reform which is humane and compassionate. In his immigration reform bill sent to the Congress, the White House has proposed elimination of nation-quota in allocation of green cards, a main demand of organisations like Immigration Voice and Indian IT pros.
The non-partisan Congressional Research Service says that this “discriminatory and arbitrary” cap on the quantity of Indian nationals who can get lawful permanent residency every single year has designed a backlog of more than one million people today waiting for green cards, with a wait time of more than 195 years, Mr Kapoor mentioned, adding that in fiscal year 2030, the line is anticipated to develop to 436 years.
“A majority of the Green Card backlog consists of women and children, who will eventually die in these backlogs. Needless to say, the per-country limits on the employment-based green card system are, in fact, 100 per cent an ”Indian Exclusion Act”. In reality, this implies a de facto ban on employment-based green cards for any new Indian national entering the United States on an H-1B visa,” Mr Kapoor mentioned.
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