Washington: Thousands of children of legal immigrants, a significantly large number of whom are Indians, who grew up in the US risk being deported back to the country where they do not know anyone as they are approaching the age of 21. At least 250,000 children of such immigrants are facing a crisis due to visa backlogs and congressional impasse.
A bipartisan group led by US Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and Representative Deborah Ross, called on the Biden administration last month to take urgent action to protect more than 250,000 'Documented Dreamers' (children of long-term visa holders) who are at risk of aging out of their dependent status and may be forced to self-deport if they are ineligible 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. However, due to the long green-card backlog, families with approved immigrant petitions are often stuck waiting decades for permanent resident status," the lawmakers said in a letter on June 13.
What did the White House say?
The White House blamed the Republicans for the legislative impasse to grant permanent residency to immigrants. "I talked about the bipartisan agreement that came together from the Senate, where we negotiated a process to help the so-called “documented DREAMers,” and sadly, Republicans, and I’ve said this many times already at this podium today, which is that they voted it down twice. They voted it down twice," said Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a briefing on Thursday.
"We are going to provide protection to more than 500,000 people and keep families together in the US. That is something that the president announced back in June, and that is something that we’re going to continue to do... We had a bipartisan option that would have been the toughest and the fairest way to move forward in dealing with the immigration system, something we hadn’t seen in years, and they (Republicans) voted it down twice," she added.
Last month, Improve The Dream, an organisation representing the children of legal immigrants met with over 100 congressional offices and senior administration officials. "It is disappointing to see the lack of action and associated proposed regulations deprioritised and delayed. It is time for action and I hope President Biden and the administration see the support from this bipartisan letter and show they care about one of the most bipartisan issues in Congress and rectify the mistakes of the past,' said Dip Patel, founder of Improve The Dream comments.
Concerns high among Dreamers
Jefrina, who came to the US from India at the age of 7, told news agency PTI that she arrived on a dependent H-4 visa and her parents applied for permanent residency in 2010 when she was 12 years old. A graduate student pursuing an MBA at the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Jefrina said she "unwittingly fell in love with this country".
"My young adult life has been a series of temporary fixes to avoid self-deportation. I graduate from my Masters program in December, and I'm yet again at the crossroads of leaving my family, pets, friends, and a myriad of unquantifiable reasons I call Minnesota my home," Jefrina said.
Similarly, Praneetha, a Cloud Engineer based in Texas, who came to the US with her family when she was 8 years old as a dependent on her parents' work visa, and after living in the US for more than 15 years, is left with no clear path toward permanent residency and has to hop from visa to visa in order to continue living and working in the country. Roshan, who came to the US at the age of 10 and was working with an American semiconductor manufacturing company, was forced to leave last month.
The administration has heard countless stories and examples of American-raised and educated STEM and health care talent (which comprises 87 per cent of all impacted by aging-out, according to Improve The Dream's survey) contributing in other countries now due to barriers in our legal immigration system, said Dip Patel.
(with inputs from PTI)
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