The end of the American dream? Indian-Americans, experts dissect Trump's order

US President Donald Trumprsquos Executive Order EO proposing to cancel ldquobirthright citizenshiprdquo for immigrant children born in the US unless at least one parent is a citizen has stirred up a hornetrsquos nest Initial panic among American desis subsided when it became clear the order would not be retroactive and would come into force in a monthrsquos timeHowever a slew of questions arise from heremdashsuch as will the EO affect work visas for Indians as well as other immigrants whether students are likely to be impacted and even whether the EO will come into force at all considering it involves a Constitutional amendment and has been opposed by several states in the USUS citizen Som Pushkar an IT professional who has lived there for 30 years says ldquoBirthright citizenship is in the Constitution and I donrsquot know if an executive order can override itrdquoNidhi Sehami data analystPushkarrsquos two children obtained citizenship through the birthright clause jus soli before either parent became a citizen Pushkar who has been a citizen for 15 years points out that ending birthright citizenship was something US President Donald Trump had said he would do even while he was on the campaign trail ldquoNow he has followed throughrdquo he saysDuring his first term Trump oversaw a substantial increase in H1B visa denials and Requests for Evidence RFEs leading to heightened uncertainty for highskilled workers Trump Administration 20 might make the process more rigorous possibly driving denial rates back upSenior policy expert Deepak Maheshwari says the ramifications of the ruling if it goes through would be primarily societal in nature ldquoChildren will be affectedrdquo he says though individual situations differPolicy expert Deepak Maheshwari says the ramifications of the ruling will be primarily societal mainly affecting children Education consultant Vibha Kagzi feels the US government will retain graduates from the top US universities as they are highvalue talent Immigrants have no clear path to citizenship today says marketing professor Prithwiraj Mukherjee who refused the option to emigrateWith techies being major users of the H1B visa this would eventually impact companies employing IT professionals he says ldquoOverall the new administration continues to believe in the utility and relevance of H1B so the visa situation is unlikely to be affected It benefits both it gives the US the skills and it gives Indians jobsrdquoHowever Maheshwari goes on to say it could be a while before the ruling comes into force as it has been challenged legally by some 22 states If it comes into force it would affect future and prospective emigrants from India who would then rethink the prospect of a longterm stay in the USVibha Kagzi founder and CEO of education consultancy ReachIvycom says ldquoEven if this ruling does go through anyone who graduates through the top universities in the US are considered high human and social capital and highvalue talent The government and employers will do whatever they can to try and retain this talentrdquoMeenakshi AhamedMoreover once a company sponsors an H1B visa it is evident that it values the talent and expertise of this individual who in turn adds value to the economy of the US ldquoHence if a child is born to this sort of a couple in the US then the government will try its best to retain this talent It makes economic sense for the United States to not lose out on this large inflow of foreign education which is a huge inbound revenue from India and thereafter the talent pool that it createsrdquo Kagzi addsUS Consulate Mumbai spokesperson Brenda Soya says ldquoThe United States remains the top destination for international students with India leading with a 23 per cent increase over the previous year Indian students now constitute 29 per cent of the entire international student population in the USrdquoSocial media has been abuzz with personal anecdotes about women who travelled to the US while pregnant so that their child could be born there and get citizenship automatically Many say that this ruling will put the brakes on if not an end to this sort of manipulationPrithwiraj Mukherjee an associate professor of digital marketing at a university in Ahmedabad feels a lot of uncertainty has opened up ldquoIndian H1B immigrants have no clear path to citizenship today and wait times of 50plus years lie ahead Many at least had children who got birthright US citizenship but that too has been cancelledrdquo he saysMukherjee who lived in the US for a short period says he had no desire to emigrate But it is not so in the case of countless others for whom settling in the US is an end goal in itselfNidhi Sehami moved to the US in 2016 and was in the country when Trump got elected the first time around What happened after in the next eight years is a story thatrsquos common to many people who have gone to America as students and then tried to get a job Sehami then 24 studied engineering management at St Cloud State University and in 2018 got an internship and finally a contractual job ldquoGet a fulltime job as a migrant is very hard So initially you get jobs on contract where you are paid only 75 per cent and with the multiple taxes you end up making very littlerdquo says Sehami on call from Hyderabad her hometown where she returned to last AugustldquoItrsquos been eight years of going from one job to anothermdashalso when you shift from the student visa to H1B the taxes are very high You need to get a new job in six months or else you need to leave the country So people study more and go back to the student visa So then there is more debt that piles uprdquo she saysThough the EO has had students worried more so in the light of many countries already cutting back on intake of students from India and other countries Kagzi does not feel it is a serious issue yet ldquoRealistically at this point for international students planning to study in the US this development does not directly impact their educational pursuits but we urge students to stay informed and seek guidance from immigration experts to understand the full impact of this rulingrdquo she saysSehami feels that looking back the only reason she opted to try for the American dream was because her friends were all going there was a feeling of FOMO and a feeling that she needed the American stamp to get a better job ldquoI feel that with Trump back in power there will be more jobs but it will be hard to get them and hold them Taxes are going to be very highmdashand they change as you change states in the US Itrsquos like living paycheck to paycheck I would tell younger people today donrsquot go Itrsquos not worth it My brother has tried two times and his H1B has been rejected and I feel itrsquos for the bestrdquoA fulltime employer needs to sponsor you and Sehami says that the big tech companies like Amazon Google and Microsoft have started denying sponsorships till the backlog of green card applications is cleared A study by USbased think tank Cato Institute has revealed that only 3 per cent of applicants are expected to obtain permanent residence in the fiscal year 2024 and there is a backlog of approximately 347 million applicationsIn 2024 Sehami was working full time at Kyvos Inside in New Jersey which is a data analytics firm when they told her they were shutting her division down and outsourcing the job to two people in India ldquoIt was just getting expensive to survive I had already spent R810 lakh just switching between jobs and surviving there for so long I gave seven rounds of interviews for Amazon but didnrsquot get the job so in the end I decided I had gone through my savings and came back Now I have a good highpaying job in Hyderabad at SampP Global and I couldnrsquot be happierrdquoMeenakshi Ahamed who is a freelance journalist and the author of A Matter of Trust IndiaUS Relations from Truman to Trump and Indian Genius The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America feels that though Trump does many things that he believes will appeal to his base he doesnrsquot always deliver ldquoDuring his first term he had threatened to build a wall along the border with Mexico and to get them to pay for it Mexico ignored him and the wall was only partially built by Trump This attempt to change the 14th amendment that has been the bedrock of immigration policy for over a century has swiftly been countered by lawsuits and a conservative judge has already declared Trumprsquos order unconstitutionalrdquoShe does feel that the American Dream will endure because in many ways it remains a meritocratic society which recognises and rewards hard work and talent ldquoBut for the next three to four years it may be harder to enter that race On a peopletopeople basis things may not change that muchrdquoMilan Vaishnav Director and Senior Fellow South Asia Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace feels that Americarsquos reputation as a ldquoland of opportunityrdquo still persists but the cracks are beginning to show ldquoAnd those cracks predate the Trump administration Economic inequality the skyhigh cost of higher education a dysfunctional health care systemmdashthese and other factors are limiting social mobility Indians continue to thrive in the United States perhaps because they are so welleducated and oriented toward white collar jobs on average But the next few years will really test the strength of US institutions as well as our social fabricrdquoWith inputs from Aastha Atray Banan347 mnGreen Card applications backlogged with the US authorities as of 2024Source Cato Institute US think tank12 mnIndians including dependents are waiting in the first second and third employmentbased green card categoriesSource National Foundation for American Policy analysis of USCIS data