Raja Krishnamoorthi along with Kathy Manning and Deborah K Ross wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Senator Chuck Schumer, demanding an inclusion of relief packages for high-skilled immigrants stuck in the green card backlog in the budget reconciliation package.
The members demand that any immigration policy should now include relief packages for those who are "an international talent pool of highly skilled workers are already present and working" in the country and are yet far from "calling it home".
It is imperative any immigration package include provisions to address the employment-based green card backlog, which is damaging American competitiveness and abandoning 1.2 million people to perpetual nonimmigrant status.Raja Krishnamoorthi in a statement
The letter states that the per country cap on green card holders may encourage these individuals to take their talents, creativity and inventions take someplace else. Without the green card, it becomes difficult for them to change jobs, start their own businesses, which in turn does not let America access professionals – the scientists, health care workers, inventors, entrepreneurs, who give America an edge over its global competitors.
Failure to provide a path to lawful permanent residence for the 1.2 million people in the employment-based green card backlog, most of whom are H-1B visa holders, would be tantamount to staging an economic recovery with one hand tied behind our back. Permanently relegating H-1B holders to nonimmigrant status while China, Russia, and other major powers are ascendant on the world stage – and hungry to be home to the innovators of the 21st century – is simply nonsensical. This can and must be addressed in the budget reconciliation package currently under negotiation. - The Letter
The American population growth is at its lowest, the population is ageing, with very less additions to the working class, the letter noted. With 8.7 million people unemployed, the economic recovery from the pandemic is uncertain, it further stated.
They mentioned that the relief packages and citizenship status to immigrant professions serve as a means to both better the immigration policies and also help recover the economy from the harsh effects of the pandemic.
For the letter to be sent within the top Democratic leadership, the members are calling on their Congressional colleagues to support them on this matter.
I call on my colleagues to immediately raise this important issue with leadership and ensure that relief for backlogged high-skilled workers is included in the final package. Our economic recovery from COVID-19 depends on it.Raja Krishnamoorthi in a statement
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