Why America Driving Away Hardworking Job Creators?

By: Joe Mauricio

 

The Trump administration may quietly revoke the ability of hundreds of thousands of immigrants (almost all women) from legally working in the United States, forcing them to choose between heading back to their kitchen or leaving the country altogether.

These women are the spouses of workers here on high-skilled visas, and they are typically skilled themselves like their spouses. Many have launched businesses that created jobs for U.S. citizens, whose employment may, in turn, be at risk, too.

Take, for instance, 37-year-old entrepreneur Keerthi Ranjith, who lies in South Riding, Virginia, Ranjith came to the U.S. in 2004 as the independent spouse of her husband, a software engineer on a n H1B visa. Ranjith, a teacher, knew that one condition of leaving India was that she would at least temporarily have to give up her rewarding career. At the time, spouses of H1B workers were prohibited from doing paid work.

Still, her husband’s company promised to sponsor her for green card, which meant in a few years, both of them would again be able to work. She could put her professional skills to work and bring a second income for their growing family. At least, that’s what she thought. The couple did not count on interminable green card backlog for Indian nationals.

Under the current immigration law, there is an annual per country cap on green cards, and same for every country, regardless of population. That means every people from tiny nations, such as Liechtenstein, can get green cards almost immediately after clearing the sponsorship and screening process, while those big countries, such as India and China, may wait for decades.

Ranjith waited and waited. Restless at home but barred from getting a job, she volunteered at her children’s school and began dreaming about one day launching her own business, an after-school tutoring center. She had an Indian educational credentials transferred and obtained a Virginia teaching licens.

Members of the U.S. Congress several times tried and failed to fi x the broken green card system. Finally, the Obama administration offered a workaround. Starting in May 2014, spouses of skilled wo rkers awaiting green card approval would be allowed to work.

Within a month, Ranjith opened the South Riding Learning Center. Today, nearly 250 students are enrolled, and she employs more than 1 5 people. “All my employees are citizens. They were all born in America.” Now, under President Trump and the Department of Justice, Ranjith and her 15 American employees may all lose their jobs. She says, “I have waited patiently, I paid my taxes, I volunteered. I waited for the rules to change, and I did everything correctly. But maybe this means we need to start over.”

So tell me, just how would it make America great again, to drive away hard-working job creators like Keerth Ranjith or Juan dela Cruz?