New Delhi: The world may be criticising Donald Trump for his immigration policy, but the President of the United States of America seems to have found a few friends in the South Asian community there, especially Indians.
The friendship is such that some from the community are offering to raise $25 billion to help build Trump’s wall.
The Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC), an organisation led by Chicago-based businessman Shalabh Kumar who is close to Trump, is holding a rally on June 13 to make the White House aware of their billion-dollar offer and also to ensure that America gets to know about the DALCA, or Deferred Action for Legal Childhood Arrivals.
The distinction from just plain DACA is that the sought-after pathway to citizenship only applies to children who were brought here illegally.
Senator Paul Rand, Congressman Pete Sessions and many other senators and Congressmen are expected to address the rally.
The RHC says that the children who have come here legally, with their parents, also deserve the same protection.
The legal kids or the DALCA kids usually age out by the time they turn 21.
Trump has ordered for DACA to be scrapped but decisions in court have stayed the same. June 25 is the self-inflicted deadline by the House GOP to secure legal status for the Dreamers by at least a few more years.
The RHC is hoping that the issue of DALCA will be brought about in the solution to the DACA issue.
Speaking to News18, Vikram Aditya Kumar, chair of RHC, said DALCA refers to the kids of H1-B holders who are approved for their green cards but due to the 60-year backlog, the children age out and are forced to leave their family. The estimated number of DALCA kids is 200,000.
“Most cases the entire family leaves the USA. There are many others who are moving to Canada. This is where there is a major brain drainage,” Vikram said.
His father, Indian-American businessman Shalabh Kumar, launched the RHC in 2015. The Kumar family has supported the Trump campaign throughout and their fight for legal children of H1-B holders is something that Trump agrees with.
The wait for a green card in the US is at least 60 years for Indian citizens who are approved by virtue of H1-B. The long wait is due to the backlog and the country cap.
The RHC, for long, has been proposing to reduce the backlog to five years by removing the 7% country quota. What RHC is proposing, Vikram added, is that the US follow a merit-based system like Canada does.
“Trump agrees that the 60+ years is an outrageous wait time. He even told my family at Mar-a-Lago that five years that we are proposing is also too long,” Vikram said.
There are about 3.5 million Indians in the US, making them among the fastest growing immigrants in the country. While the Indian government under Narendra Modi has continuously batted for H1-B visas, Vikram said that Modi needed to do more.
“There are 200,000 Indian children kept in limbo on their status. A typical child, who is a US citizen, is excited about turning 21, children of Indian immigrants fear this because they don’t want to be illegal and be sent home. The government needs to step up and do more,” he added.
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