Trump decision breaks up Indian families

MUMBAI, India－Every night in Bengaluru, Parvez Shaikh's 18-month-old son wakes up in tears, calling for his mother who is in the United States－one among hundreds of families staring at an uncertain future after US President Donald Trump froze most immigrant visas.

The 33-year-old management consultant and his two children were visiting family in the Indian city－formerly known as Bangalore－in March, when the coronavirus pandemic triggered the suspension of international flights. Since then, they have been stranded.

But he never imagined he would be stopped outright from returning to the US, the country he and his wife, a hardware engineer, have called home for the past seven years.

The Trump administration last month barred new applications for the H-1B and L employment visas for the rest of the year.

It also banned existing visa holders if they were outside the US and required an extension－effectively cutting them off from their loved ones and their lives back in the US.

"My children ask me if someone has stolen our home. Sometimes they (start) looking for their favorite stuffed toy ... or their favorite book and I have no answers," Shaikh said.

Harm to economy

The prolonged closure of US consulates due to the coronavirus forced many immigrants like Shaikh, who needed to have their passports stamped after extending their visas, to postpone their consular appointments, creating a huge backlog.

Trump's decision has now thrown their lives into disarray, hitting Indians particularly hard since they make up 75 percent of H-1B applicants.

After her parents exhausted their savings to fund her education, Bhaagya－not her real name－thought she had hit the jackpot when she secured a well-paying job as an IT engineer in the US five years ago.

The 31-year-old, who traveled back to India in February, even managed to pay for her sister's graduate studies in the US.

But she now fears losing her job if she is unable to return due to the new restrictions, setting off a chain reaction.

"My sister can't pay for school if I can't keep my job, which would mean losing her student visa too," she said.

Software engineer Harpreet Singh, who has been stranded in India since March, said: "How will targeting H-1B visas or a handful of us benefit the US economy if we are here earning in dollars and spending in rupees?"

US tech giants have warned that the restrictions on hiring high-skilled workers will harm the economy.

Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank, said the move amounted to "a self-inflicted wound".

It could also spark an exodus of talent, he added, as immigrants pursue opportunities elsewhere.

Agencies via Xinhua