Indian-origin Democratic Congressman Shri Thanedar came under fire for speaking about the H-1B visa issue at a bipartisan hearing on AI. At the hearing, Thanedar asked the witnesses, company representatives who came for the AI hearing, on how many immigrants are there in their companies and how Trump’s crackdown on immigration affected the functioning of their companies. Thanedar mentioned the difficulty of getting H-1B visa, the long waiting time for Green Card etc, all policies of the Trump administration and asked the company representatives on what they think about Trump’s plan of reducing the number of skilled immigrants. Dr Logan Graham, Department Head, Frontier Red Team at Anthropic PBC; Royal Handen, VP of Privacy, Safety, and Security Engineering at Google LLC; Eddy Zervigon, Chief Executive Officer of Quantum Xchange; Michael Coates: Founding Partner at Seven Hill Ventures, were the witnesses at the hearing.
The video of these four executives falling silent to Thanedar’s pressing questions on H-1B has gone viral. Thanedar said Trump’s second term has been all about hatred for immigrants but the reality is that the tech sector is heavily dependent on skilled immigrants. “How has the Trump administration made it difficult for your companies to retain international workers choosing to leave or being forced to leave due to discrimination?” Thanedar asked the representatives. Graham replied to the question and clarified that it’s not his position in the company to answer this question but it’s important to find and hire the best people from around the world.”Anybody else? How important is immigration?” Thanedar insisted. “We have to talk to our HR departments,” Hansen said. “What per cent of your organization has immigrants?” Thanedar pressed. “Again, I don’t have the exact number. But certainly, we do have Green Cards and immigrants that work at Google,” Hansen said.Thanedar, at one point, dived into his immigration story and said he came to the US as a 24-year-old man, escaping poverty in India’. He narrated how he completed his PhD in Chemisty and then went on to become a serial entrepreneur. He also spoke about the need to save jobs for American youths, but US should not lose US edge on tech. The video received sharp social media reactions. “This guy fled India, built his pharma fortune on American soil (with shady animal-testing where beagles and monkeys were left to rot in his bankrupt labs), and now demands we flood the market with “his people” to steal jobs from real Americans. It’s time to COMPLETELY REWORK the current H-1B program and put America First!” one wrote. Rep Andy Ogles said Thanedar hijacked his hearing on AI to push a pro-H1B agenda. “Democrat Shri Thanedar just hijacked my bipartisan hearing on AI to push a pro-H1B agenda and insult President Trump’s efforts to prioritize American workers. Not one of our witnesses took the bait. My Cyber Committee is about protecting data security for all Americans, not America-last politics. Embarrassing,” Andy Ogles said.
