Indian-American Frontline Workers Protest Green Card Backlog

The frontline healthcare workers in green card backlog held a demonstration in front of the US Capitol.

(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot of Video)

A group of Indian-American frontline healthcare workers held a silent demonstration in front of the US Capitol over their Green Card backlog, urging lawmakers and the Biden administration to end the per capita country-specific quota, reported PTI.

Currently, the law limits the number of green cards issued per country of origin to seven percent. Only 3,66,000 green cards are available every year, of which 40,040 Green Cards in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories are most commonly applicable to Indian nationals.

In a Twitter post on Thursday, 18 March, the frontline healthcare workers of Indian origin urged people to join their protest against 150 years of the backlog.

‘We Demand Justice’

"We are frontline COVID warriors, and we are here to tell how we have been short changed into a life of perpetual indentured servitude. Each of us has a story. We are here from all over the country asking for justice. Justice that has precluded us for decades now," the report quoted Dr Raj Karnatak, an infectious disease and critical care physician and Dr Pranav Singh, a pulmonary and critical care physician, as saying.

"Most of us are from India. We trained in the US and took oath as physicians to serve the sick and needy. Most of us are serving the rural and underserved areas. We are in a Green Card backlog due to archaic country caps that allow no country to get more than seven percent of employment-based green cards," they said in a joint statement, reported PTI.

According to an April 2020 report published by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Green Card backlog for employment-based immigrants touched a record high in FY 2020, surpassing 1.2 million applicants.

Last month, President Biden revoked a policy issued by former president Donald Trump that blocked many Green Card applicants from entering the US, stating that the policy was not advancing the interests of the country.

(With inputs from PTI)