Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar has asked US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to expand the legal pathways for immigration, including by raising the cap for H-1B visas - the most sought-after by IT professionals from India.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

“We must expand legal pathways for immigration, including by raising the cap for H-1B visas,” Thanedar told Mayorkas during a Congressional hearing by the House Committee on Homeland Security on the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the Department of Homeland Security. The H-1B visa allocations are capped at 85,000 visas per year, with 20,000 of those set aside for workers holding advanced degrees from US institutions.

Thanedar, a Democrat, said that the fact is that the US border security challenges are a symptom of the broader failure to overhaul the immigration system of the country. During the hearing, he was the only lawmaker to raise the issue of H-1B before the Homeland Security Secretary.

Thanedar said the Department of Homeland Security has a broad range of missions beyond the border that are critical to securing the homeland that deserves our attention.

“For example, we must make sure the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is able to carry out its mission to secure all modes of transportation. For far too long, TSA employees have laboured under unfair working conditions while frontline officers are receiving 30 per cent less pay and inferior labour protection when compared to other federal employees doing similar work,” he said.

“Republican proposals to address these issues have fallen far short, and have only come in response to more sufficient proposals from Ranking Member Thompson and other Democrats. Thankfully, last year Democrats voted to fund expanded labour rights and pay raises for TSA workers, which will take effect this July,” he added.

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