Donald Trump inauguration: Indian diaspora with ageing children a worried lot

The hardened stand adopted by President Donald Trump on immigration, which includes ending citizenship by birth, for children born in the US after Feb 19, where neither parent Is a green card holder or US citizen, has led to parents of documented (legal) dreamers losing hope of any reform.Documented dreamers are children born in India, but brought to the US legally by their parents. They are children of non-immigrant visa holders like H-1B visas. On turning 21, these children lose their dependent visa status (H-4) and have to self deport to another country or change their visa status – say to that of an international student.Also read: First lawsuit filed in US district court contesting end to citizenship by birthUnder the Biden administration, various bills, including a bi-partisan bill, the America’s Children Bill were introduced, but did not see the light of the day. For instance, the America’s Children Bill provided a pathway to permanent residency to documented dreamers, who had maintained legal status in the US for ten years and had graduated from an institution of higher education.According to an earlier analysis by David J Bier, director of immigration studies at Cato Institute, as of March 2023, the employment based green-card backlog from India (EB-2 and EB-3 skilled category) had reached 10.7 lakh, and nearly 1.34 lakh children were expected to age out before a green card was obtained. Indians dominated the backlog because green cards are not issued proportionally to the number of pending applicants in each country but rather limited arbitrarily at 7% per nation of birth. This norm often results in families having to split apart.Also read: Citizenship by birth curtailed even for legal immigrants: Over 1 million Indians in green card queue impactedTOI spoke to a family based in Chicago. Both parents are in the STEM field and are in queue for a green card. Their kids are aged 18 and 20 and they are looking at options outside the US, including perhaps a return to India. Many families, who have children about to age out, are doing a serious rethink of their plans to continue working in the US.