Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi vows to keep fighting for the American Dream
In 1987, the US Congress decided to mark Oct. 28 as National Immigrants Day. The day is celebrated to honor the immigrant community whose contribution to the American economy and social life paved the way for a more developed America.
On the occasion, Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi took to Twitter to wish his followers a Happy National Immigrants day.
“Today is National Immigrants Day,” he wrote. “I am proud to be an immigrant and I will keep fighting for immigration reform to continue the legacy of the American Dream.”
Read: ‘Include immigrants in green card backlog in budget reconciliation’ (August 24, 2021)
Krishnamoorthi reinforced the idea of the American Dream that many new immigrants to America look forward to and in the hope try to make this country their new home.
But in recent times the idea of the American Dream may have tarnished a bit for a large number of highly skilled immigrants who come to the US.
Many in the green card backlog community took to social media to stress that the idea of National Immigrants Day seemed a little hollow given the current hardships work visa holders have to face in America.
Boulder, Colorado based Raj K. Shah says, “I wish the National Immigrants Day had a positive meaning in today’s context and I would have loved to take my kids to the library to show them the contributions immigrants have made to America, but instead my wife and I spent the day writing a letter to our local senator asking their help in expediting our work authorization.”
“If this is how America treats its hard working tax paying population that have dreams of making it their forever home then it does deserve a second thought,” he says.
In Plano, Texas, a group of Indians in the green card backlog decided to meet to strategize their plans on how they can urge their local senators to look into wasted green card issues.
Read: 200,000 Indians will die before getting green cards: Raja Krishnamoorthi (September 1, 2021)
On the day, there were also some WhatsApp and Telegram immigration groups that exchanged the format of the letters the community should be sending to the White house to inform them of i485 delays that are causing stress and job losses to many families.
National Immigrants Day was first proclaimed in 1987 by the then President Ronald Reagan to mark the 101st anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.