Kamal Ghorui
Texas GOP chairman Abraham George clashed with the founder of the Indian-American Advocacy Council Sidharth on social media over H-1B and asked the latter whether he was afraid that he would be deported. The online spat came at a time when Indian-American groups are concerned over the increasing hate against Indians in the US. The argument started after Abraham George called for an end to H-1B and said this visa program is full of fraud. “H-1B visas are full of fraud and displacing American workers. It has to stop. We must make it a legislative priority of the Texas GOP to rid our state of H-1Bs and put Texans first. #AmericaFirst,” George posted. Abraham George was born in India and came to the US when he was 16. Thousands of Indians come to the US on H-1B visas, though people from other countries too come to the US on this visa program. The current India-hatred and the attack on the H-1B visa program are going on simultaneously in MAGA circles. Texas has already taken several steps against H-1B visa abuse. The administration froze H-1B hiring is state agencies and state universities. An investigation into three H-1B firms are also going on. The administration was alerted by Texas journalist and whistleblower Sara Gonzales who did her own investigation into the alleged H-1B abuse. She visited the employers and found that there were no offices. Though many IT staffing companies hire H-1Bs for big tech companies and these staffing companies may not have their own office, everything related to the H-1B is now under scrutiny in Texas. Reacting to Abraham George’s anti-H-1B message, Indian-American community leader Sidharth said George remained silent on the xenophobic hate crisis that targeted Indian-Americans in his own state. Counting the achievements of the Indian-Americans in Texas, Sidharth said, instead of standing up against the hate targeting a community that invested billions into the Texas economy, the GOP chairman was pandering to the same crowd threatening them. “Are you scared you’ll get deported?” Abraham George replied. “Are you kidding me? Your response to take a responsible statement on the rampant racism against Indians is this?” Sidharth retorted. A major controversy broke out after an old video of an Indian-origin engineer Madhu Raju dancing at World War 2 Memorial went viral. Social media users called for his deportation accusing him of H-1B breach.
