"Why are you turning your back on the Indian community, man?”
At an event at the University of North Carolina Asheville, a US Indian woman questioned Vivek Ramaswamy over the H1-B Visa.
Stating that she believes he was granted US citizenship due to his parental ties, the woman said:
“You were quoted saying that people who come to this country as family members are not the meritocratic citizens who should be accepted.”
Highlighting that his company hired staff on this visa, she asked:
“Why are you turning your back on the Indian community, man?”
In response, the entrepreneur and Republican supporter said:
“First of all, a lot of the people who have come here through the H-1B system would tell you, as I would, that it is just a broken system no matter who you’re seeking to serve.
“For example, you want to talk about special interests and lobbying?
“This is direct Silicon Valley lobbying that said that if you get your H -1B visa and you’re hired by one company, you’re effectively like a slave, you can’t switch to a different company.”
Ramaswamy went on to say that this is not a free labour market, adding that “there’s so much that’s broken and bureaucratised”.
He continued to explain the H1-B Visa system and “why the heck do we do it on the basis of a lottery, when you could actually just select the very best people?”
Criticising the US administration, Ramaswamy suggested:
“When it’s lasted that long, you need to shut it down, start with a blank slate and rebuild from scratch.”
Two things:
1) H1B visas are not given away. You have to get a qualifying job and then go through the lottery.
2) If being on H1B is like working as a slave, the immediate focus should be on removing country caps which has made H1B permanent status for many based on their… pic.twitter.com/E95cwa06YU
— Anuj (@anujchristian) November 1, 2024
Throughout the US election, immigration has taken centre stage.
Vivek Ramaswamy said the US immigration system generally selects the most intelligent people, those who will work the hardest, who know the most about the US or who speak the best English.
However, he remarked that “none of those is the quality that our current immigration system rewards”.
According to Vivek Ramaswamy, no migration should be allowed without consent.
He added: “Consent should only be granted to migrants who benefit America, and those who enter without consent must be removed and must be punished.”
Ramaswamy went on to mention that he will be partial to those immigrants who are going to benefit America.
He added: “As legal immigrants, as a kid of legal immigrants to this country, if there are benefits, if there are immigrants who are going to benefit the United States of America, that should be the standard that we actually use.
“It just turns out that’s not actually the standard we’re using today.”
Reacting to his views, one X user said:
“H1-B visas are not given away. You have to get a qualifying job and then go through the lottery.”
Another wrote: “If being on H1-B is like working as a slave, the immediate focus should be on removing country caps which has made H1-B permanent status for many based on their country of birth.”
A third commented: “It’s point-blank slavery. Most Indians don’t like to accept because no one likes being called a slave. But the truth can’t change.”
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