US nation of immigrants: Biden's policy advisor Neera Tanden bats for legal flow of foreign talent

Washington: America is a nation of immigrants, and there's broad support for expanding legal immigration in the country, a top domestic policy advisor to US President Joe Biden has said amidst a raging debate on the most sought-after H-1B visa.

The H-1B visa programme allows US companies to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations. Indian companies have been significant beneficiaries of this programme, particularly in the technology sector.

“I think even in the raging immigration debate, it's really important for all of us to remember that we are a nation of immigrants, and there's broad support for expanding legal immigration in the country,". We'll see how that goes in the future, but that's been the case,” Indian-American Neera Tanden told PTI in an interview.

Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which bring in the best of the talent and brains from across the world. Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas - which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US.

Tanden has been serving as director of the United States Domestic Policy Council since 2023.

A close confidant of outgoing US President Biden, Tanden has been a key part of the White House during the last four years.

She was responding to a question on the ongoing debate on H-1B and the continued backlash against Indian-Americans after the appointment of Sriram Krishnan as the White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence by incoming President Donald Trump.

“I think it's really tragic, honestly. That debate underscores actually that there's broad support in the country for legal immigration done well and done right. What I really reacted to in that debate was just the vitriolic hatred unleashed against Indian-Americans. People were posting a picture of the person, the Indian-American who Trump is appointing, and just said, why would we pick this person? Or is this what you think of as an American?” Tanden said.

Ahead of Trump's inauguration here on January 20, the debate on foreign guest workers visas for highly skilled professionals, the H-1B, has intensified which has literally created divisions in both the Democratic and the Republican parties.

Such a backlash initially came from the supporters of Trump who argued that this is eating away at the jobs of Americans. Both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy immediately weighed in and supported the H-1B visas.

However, influential Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders asserted that the two close confidants of Trump are wrong.

“The reason why I reacted was that President Biden has talked about... one of the fundamental fights in this country is whether the country is for all of us or for some of us. Even before the next term begins, we saw this raging debate on social media that was fundamentally saying that Indian-Americans aren't American,” she said.

“...When I tweeted that, I got so many tweets, hate tweets from people saying, go back to India, go back to your, like, you know, they were swearing about India. They were calling Indians names that were backward. It was really a wake-up call and a reminder that presidents can unleash forces, they can build up forces in the country,” she said.

While the attack was going on, the Trump team kept relatively quiet, she noted.

“I think if you see that kind of thing happen, the most important thing is to say it's wrong. You can't have it both ways. You can't woo the Indian-American community and then when... extremists are attacking Indian-Americans as not American, stay silent or, have your allies feed those flames.

“It’s really up to Indian-Americans and Americans writ large to call that out it's not it's not right. And I've seen in political debates over the last 20 years that sometimes something can happen to Indian-Americans and people don't treat it like it's the same as, attacking any other group. That's wrong and it's really important that Indian-Americans speak up,” she said.

“We now have members of Congress. I was very proud of how they stood up. Raja Krishnamoorthy was on TV defending Indian-Americans. Ro Khanna was on TV. It is really important that we have all of our leaders. I would say to those, Indian-American Republicans, it's really important for you to use your voice as well,” she said.

Tanden started off as a senior advisor to the president and was promoted to be the domestic policy advisor to the president.

“I managed all the decisions for the president as staff secretary. I was engaged in a lot of the strategy questions as a senior advisor, and now as a domestic policy advisor to the president and chair of the domestic policy council, I've really had the great privilege to work on so many issues, education, healthcare, domestic immigration, crime, public safety, criminal justice, civil rights,” she said.

“First and foremost, I feel incredibly privileged to have the experiences I've had,” she said, adding that she worked on expanding opportunity for Americans, addressing costs that people have, and health care and ensuring that they are protecting freedoms and rights.

Responding to a question on the India-US relationship, Tanden said the way the world is moving, this relationship will be really important.

“I also really want to underscore that it's the people-to-people relationships, the diaspora has been crucial. Just the sort of intangible dynamism in India. There is a very deep connection between the kind of values of our country where you have an entrepreneurial class in India who is innovating across multiple dimensions,” she said.

“In my work, I've seen how in biotech and the biopharma areas, but across multiple dimensions, there's a kind of deep innovation happening in India, which I think really does speak to the shared values. The fact some so many Indian-American CEOs and leaders come from the IIT system in India, I just think that that's a fascinating and deep kind of connection that goes beyond government to government, but really is people to people,” she said.

“I've worked in a lot of different administrations, and I'm really proud of the work we've done here to advance civil rights and protections for people, as well as address the kind of cost families face, from health care to education, etc." "I also think that it's important that over the course of my career, I have also seen a kind of growth in the Indian-American community about engaging in public service or more people running for office than ever before. But a central component is also holding our leaders accountable for ensuring that all of us have a voice in the administration and policies and also that every administration sees us as equal Americans,” Tanden said.