Immigration and Pathways To Citizenship
Around the world, America is known for a simple promise: no matter who you are, how you come here, or where you come from, you are welcome. Impact works to help our nation live up to that promise for South Asians and immigrants from all over the world. We must live in a country with equal opportunity, where all immigrants are treated with dignity and respect, and given a fair pathway to citizenship.
The Challenge
Indian Americans are the second-largest group of immigrants entering the United States — but for too long, we’ve been held back by a broken immigration system that prevents too many of us from reuniting with our families overseas and realizing that fundamental American promise.
Today, more than 1.8 million people are waiting for their Green Card interviews because of a cap system established more than 30 years ago by the U.S. government, including over 1 million Indian immigrants – often friends, family members, and neighbors of Indian Americans already here, suspended in limbo and separated from their communities while time moves on. But a decades-old law limits any single country from making up more than 7% of the Green Cards issued in any given year. That long-outdated statute disproportionately harms Indians, and means that at this rate, more than 400,000 will die before they receive their green cards.
Not only is this an injustice to those whose lives are thrown into chaos, it’s also a setback for an American economy that badly needs their labor. Even worse, that backlog means more than 200,000 young Dreamers here in the U.S. today who are dependents of long-term visa holders will age out of those visas when they turn 21. These Dreamers, mostly Indian, on average arrived in the U.S. when they were 5 — but risk self-deportation after waiting 16 years for the security of a Green Card.
There’s no reason why the U.S. needs to exclude millions of young Americans, suspend the lives of hundreds of thousands of Indians in limbo, and make a point of denying security and citizenship to our communities. Over 725,000 Indian Americans are estimated to be in the US without documentation. This number has grown by 70% since 2011 – the fastest rate of growth of all nationalities – and this group joins 10+ million other Americans who lack a clear path to citizenship despite their innumerable contributions to our economy and society.
It is clear that immigrants of all kinds will be under threat by the second Trump Administration. Birthright citizenship, temporary protected status, legal asylum from persecution — these are longstanding bedrocks of American immigration law and of our country’s prosperity, and now they are in the crosshairs. Our immigration system needs repair so that new Americans can continue to build and contribute to this country, not the chaos and cruelty of mass deportations.
The Solution
The answers are straightforward: we need legislation to ensure immigrants are truly welcomed in the United States. The H-1B visa program, which has brought so many Indian physicians, engineers, and academics to the U.S., will of course be a part of that solution. But successful reforms must also welcome essential workers, store clerks, hospitality workers, and so many more.
We need the U.S. Congress to:
- Establish a pathway to citizenship for all Dreamers by passing the Dream and Promise Act
- Bring security to all Dreamers by passing the America’s CHILDREN Act
- Abolish discriminatory per-country caps for permanent residency in the United States
- Amend our immigration laws to increase the number of family and employment-based green cards issued each year.
In coalition with our brothers and sisters in the movement for immigrant justice, we believe we can and must build a humane and fair immigration system that recognizes the fundamental dignity and humanity in all of us. Because we believe no matter who you are or where you come from, you must be welcome in America.