At the Tech Immigration Summit in the US Capitol earlier this year, bipartisan legislators stressed the urgent need to address long delays for Indian professionals seeking Green Cards and navigating H-1B visa issues.
Since then, the Biden administration has not made significant progress in advancing the EAGLE Act to tackle the long-standing backlog for immigrants. Indian American lawmaker Ro Khanna expresses disappointment with the House’s lack of attention to this bipartisan bill.
The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora (FIIDS) summit highlighted the significant impact of the seven percent country quota on Green Card issuance, leading to wait times of over 20 years for many Indian immigrants.
The EAGLE Act is a bill set to revamp the immigration system by removing the per-country cap on employment-based Green Cards and raising the cap on family-sponsored Green Cards from 7% to 15%.
The White House supports the bill, seeing its potential to help many immigrants, especially those from India and China, by addressing a long-standing backlog.
US Rep. Ro Khanna, a strong advocate for immigration reform, has been vocal about supporting the EAGLE Act. He highlighted the economic advantages of removing per-country Green Card limits, mentioning, “The EAGLE Act will benefit our economy by lifting the arbitrary per-country green card caps to bring down our decades-long backlog for immigrants. I am deeply disappointed that my amendment to include it in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act was not given a vote.”
“The EAGLE Act is a bipartisan and common-sense bill. 350 amendments were made in order by the Rules Committee but my amendment to add it to the NDAA was blocked by the Republican supermajority on the committee.”
The EAGLE Act will benefit our economy by lifting the arbitrary per-country green card caps to bring down our decades-long backlog for immigrants. I am deeply disappointed that my amendment to include it in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act was not given a vote.
— Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) June 20, 2024
Expressing disappointment over the exclusion of his amendment to include the EAGLE Act in the National Defense Authorization Act, Khanna reiterated, “Our industrial base needs more workers to maintain a strong military and outpace our adversaries. Immigrants help fill a critical shortage and bring vital skills to our economy, supporting all Americans.”
“Per-country green card caps cause unproductive backlogs and ignore the realities of our workforce. We must end H1B abuse by foreign outsourcing companies. This abuse decreases wages and harms workers.”
David J. Bier, Associate Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, warns of dire consequences for skilled Indian immigrants due to lengthy wait times of up to 90 years under current laws.
This backlog could result in over two lakh deaths before receiving green cards, and approximately 90,000 immigrant children, primarily Indians, may age out of eligibility. Under current law, only about half of pending Indian immigrants are expected to obtain green cards.
