Indian-American Healthcare Professionals Hold Protest at Capitol Hill

HI INDIA NEWS DESK

WASHINGTON, DC Urging American lawmakers to pass legislation that ends the archaic per country quota for legal permanent residency in the US, a group of frontline Indian-American healthcare professionals, stuck in the 150-plus-year Green Card backlog, held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Capitol.

A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the country.

In a joint statement on Monday, the Indian-American doctors said that they are in a 150-plus-year Green Card backlog due to archaic country caps that allow no nation to get more than seven percent of employment-based green cards.

“India is a land of a billion-plus people but ..

The protesters said that the fairness bill removes country caps and allots green cards as a first come first serve basis. It passed in the House of Representatives by 365 votes in 2019 and its Senate equivalent S386 passed the Senate in 2020. Now the bill is back to the House as a modified version.

They urged Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to bring it to vote as a bipartisan solution to end the suffering of skilled professionals.

“The Green Card backlog is taking a toll on the frontline health care workers and their families. They are living in fear and anxiety,” Dr. Namita Dhiman, a child, and adolescent psychiatrist said.

“US President Joe Biden should end the Green Card backlog by allowing USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to utilize unused green cards from the past years for the frontline healthcare workers in the backlog,” she said.

“COVID-19 has been brutal to frontline healthcare workers and the green card backlog makes it miserable. This is leading to serious mental health issues in this group,” Dhiman added.

Baltimore-based Dr Santanu Samanta, a radiation oncologist, said he feels threatened about the consequences to his family and his job if there is no change brought in the Green Card system.

“I would desperately want to see changes that would help us become permanent green holders to serve people in this country,” he said.

“Due to being stuck in the Green Card backlog, I couldn’t get fellowship training for four years despite being the most worthy candidate. After training is finished, I couldn’t find an appropriate job. My wife and daughter got so scared during COVID Pandemic that they wanted to go back to India,” said Dr. Saurabh Ranjan, an interventional cardiologist.

“If I die while on H-1B visa, I don’t get any benefits and my family will be deported. After serving the last 10 years as a physician, I still am alien and feel so desperate and hopeless how we have been treated in regard to green cards and citizenship,” Dr Ranjan said.

Infectious disease and critical care physician from Wisconsin Dr. Raj Karnatak said that they are fighting to save lives on the frontline knowing that if they get sick or die serving on the frontline, their families will get deported.

“We need immediate relief from the miserable Green Card backlog,” he said.