Indian-origin Democratic Congressman Shri Thanedar got here underneath fireplace for talking concerning the H-1B visa subject at a bipartisan listening to on AI. On the listening to, Thanedar requested the witnesses, firm representatives who got here for the AI listening to, on what number of immigrants are there of their firms and the way Trump’s crackdown on immigration affected the functioning of their firms. Thanedar talked about the issue of getting H-1B visa, the lengthy ready time for Inexperienced Card and many others, all insurance policies of the Trump administration and requested the corporate representatives on what they consider Trump’s plan of decreasing the variety of expert immigrants. Dr Logan Graham, Division Head, Frontier Purple Group at Anthropic PBC; Royal Handen, VP of Privateness, Security, and Safety Engineering at Google LLC; Eddy Zervigon, Chief Government Officer of Quantum Xchange; Michael Coates: Founding Associate at Seven Hill Ventures, had been the witnesses on the listening to. The video of those 4 executives falling silent to Thanedar’s urgent questions on H-1B has gone viral. Thanedar stated Trump’s second time period has been all about hatred for immigrants however the actuality is that the tech sector is closely depending on expert immigrants. “How has the Trump administration made it troublesome on your firms to retain worldwide staff selecting to depart or being pressured to depart resulting from discrimination?” Thanedar requested the representatives. Graham replied to the query and clarified that it isn’t his place within the firm to reply this query nevertheless it’s vital to seek out and rent the very best individuals from all over the world.“Anyone else? How vital is immigration?” Thanedar insisted. “Now we have to speak to our HR departments,” Hansen stated. “What per cent of your group has immigrants?” Thanedar pressed. “Once more, I haven’t got the precise quantity. However actually, we do have Inexperienced Playing cards and immigrants that work at Google,” Hansen stated.Thanedar, at one level, dived into his immigration story and stated he got here to the US as a 24-year-old man, escaping poverty in India’. He narrated how he accomplished his PhD in Chemisty after which went on to change into a serial entrepreneur. He additionally spoke about the necessity to save jobs for American youths, however US shouldn’t lose US edge on tech. The video obtained sharp social media reactions.“This man fled India, constructed his pharma fortune on American soil (with shady animal-testing the place beagles and monkeys had been left to rot in his bankrupt labs), and now calls for we flood the market with “his individuals” to steal jobs from actual People. It is time to COMPLETELY REWORK the present H-1B program and put America First!” one wrote. Rep Andy Ogles stated Thanedar hijacked his listening to on AI to push a pro-H1B agenda. “Democrat Shri Thanedar simply hijacked my bipartisan listening to on AI to push a pro-H1B agenda and insult President Trump’s efforts to prioritize American staff. Not one in all our witnesses took the bait. My Cyber Committee is about defending information safety for all People, not America-last politics. Embarrassing,” Andy Ogles stated.
