Kamal Ghorui
Indian-origin woman speaks against H-1B hatred at Frisco City Council meeting.
As the Frisco council meetings have turned into a place to spout anger against H-1B and the Indian community, an Indian-origin resident who has been living in Texas since 2016 spoke against the narrative, which she said is based on misinformation. Neha Suratran, the woman, said Frisco is one of the safest cities and that’s not despite the diversity or despite the Indian-American community, but alongside it. There are no verified reports of H-1B fraud in Frisco and the Frisco City Council is not even the authority for that, Neha said. The video of her speech has been doing the rounds on social media platforms. Suratran said some activists have chosen the city council meeting to speak about the H-1B visa program only to spread hate and because they are scared of people who do not look like them. People are making strong opinions based on group chats and viral posts without verifying facts, she said. H-1B visa program is not an easy system, she argued as she elaborated that one has to have a specialized job offer, either in tech or medicine; they must have a bachelors degree or higher and the company has to prove that they are not hiring cheap labor from foreign countries and are paying the same salary that they would pay to a US citizen. The system is selective, competitive, regulated and stopping H-1Bs would push away talent because US students are not pursuing STEM or machine learning courses in universities in adequate numbers and the number of foreign students in US universities studying these courses is greater than US students.
The Indian community in America has higher education, higher income and lower crime rate yet they are vilified in the new narrative of ‘Indian takeover’ that is dominating the Frisco council meetings, she said, adding that the Hindu Indian-American community also celebrates Christmas and Thanksgiving, and Hinduism does not convert.Another Indian-origin American, Sahas Kaul, who was born in the US, spoke about anti-India hatred and said the police commissioner told him that most cities with Frisco’s population would be envious of Frisco’s low crime rate.
