Around 800 Indian-Americans participated in a march outside the White House on Saturday in support of US President Donald Trump’s plan for a merit-based immigration system in the country among other things ends chain migration and diversity lottery visa.
These highly skilled Indian workers, many of them had joined the rally from as far as Texas, California and Chicago, were raising slogans in support of the President. They had urged Trump to end the per-country limit on legal permanent residency so as to eliminate the massive Green Card backlog of highly skilled Indians.
Indian applicants are at a disadvantage under the current approval system that limits the number of Green Cards issued to individual countries while more join the queue each year. The Trump administration has not indicated its views on this issue, but marchers in front of the White House said the President’s declared preference for “merit-based” immigration would tilt the balance in their favour.
"We are looking strictly for a merit-based immigration.
That will bring prosperity and fast economic growth of the US," Krishna Bansal, national policy and political director of Republican Hindu Coalition, told the rally of highly skilled Indians, who want to make the US now their permanent home.
"We are with President Trump for taking initiative towards a merit-based immigration system," Bansal said, adding that his group is working with the White House and lawmakers towards a comprehensive immigration bill that should include all these things.
This was one of the rare pro-Trump immigration rallies at the White House.