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In the 1990s, Chinese-born Eric Yuan had to apply nine times before his US visa was approved here in America, hed go on to become founder and CEO of Zoom. The immigration process has only gotten more restrictive since. While skilled immigrants have been working tirelessly to build the technology that makes it safe for millions of us to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, to find a vaccine, or to provide essential services, the Trump administration has been busily dismantling legal immigration. In more than 400 executive actions, the Trump administration has remade Americas immigration system based on a worldview of immigration as a security and economic threat to Americans, according to the Migration Policy Institute. During the presidents tenure, legal immigration will have fallen by almost half, the National Foundation for American Policy projects.

Yet public support for immigration has never been higher: For the first time in its 55-year history, Gallups immigration poll found that this year, more Americans supported increased immigration over decreased immigration. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans surveyed said that immigration is a good thing for the country. And now the incoming Biden administration has an opportunity if Congress provides support to fix a broken system.

Trumps policies have proven detrimental to American jobs and the economy. Although one of the most demeaning things about being an immigrant is that your personhood is reduced to your economic worth, there is no denying that immigration is an economic net positive, despite rhetoric to the contrary. Foreign-born workers contribute an estimated $2 trillion to the US economy every year about 10 percent of the countrys gross domestic product. Immigrants are twice as likely as US-born Americans to start their own businesses. Immigrants have started more than half of Americas startup companies valued at $1 billion or more, according to the National Foundation for American Policy, and are key members of management or product development teams in more than 80% of those companies.

These firms, Zoom included, often create thousands of jobs, pay taxes, and rejuvenate local economies. In Massachusetts, where 1 in 5 workers is foreign-born, according to the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies based in the state were founded by immigrants or their children think Biogen or The TJX Companies. And in 2019, more than half of the medical and life scientists in the state were foreign-born, as were 40 percent of health aides and 14 percent of nurses. Now, immigrant doctors and scientists are disproportionately represented on the front line fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The best way to restore order, dignity, and fairness to our immigration system as pledged by the president-elect on the campaign trail is by changing our system to one that sees immigrants as people and not a problem to be managed.

Reform can start by amending the public charge rule originating in the 1880s that discriminates against low-income immigrants, who are essential members of the US workforce. The law doesnt clearly define the term public charge, but its taken to mean people who are an economic burden on the government. Under Trump, the public charge rule was expanded to deny permanent residency to immigrants based on their legal use of government benefits such as food stamps, housing assistance, or Medicaid. In July, a federal judge blocked Trumps new guidelines after doctors, local officials, and advocates said immigrants fears about jeopardizing their immigration status by seeking medical treatment was hampering efforts to contain COVID-19.

In addition, policies around visas allowing US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations must be reviewed. Denial of new applications for these H-1B visas more than doubled in the first three years of the Trump presidency and continues to climb, according to the National Foundation for American Policy. Facing harsh visa restrictions, American multinational companies offshored tens of thousands of jobs to Canada, China, and India and opened new affiliates there, writes Britta Glennon, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School.

Immigration paperwork must also be streamlined. According to one estimate, if an employer decided to sponsor my green card (which is proof of lawful permanent residency), it would take over 80 years to process due to the current backlog. An estimated 200,000 applicants from India, my native country, could die before they could reach the front of the line.

I worry that immigration reform may be put on the back burner by the new Biden administration. It does not appear as a priority on the transition teams website and the words immigration and immigrants surface rarely, mostly in reference to VP-elect Kamala Harriss immigrant heritage and work in California, in the bios of Cabinet nominees, and just once when discussing the administrations economic policies.

In a pandemic and accompanying economic downturn, rebuilding Americas immigration system cannot wait. Let it start with a vision and framework aligned with economic research that treat immigration not as a burden but as an opportunity for job creation and innovation. President-elect Biden has the chance to undo many of Trumps attacks on immigrants and to build immigration policies that are inclusive and beneficial to both immigrants and US-born Americans.

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Bansari Kamdar is a freelance journalist and researcher in Boston who specializes in South Asian political economy, gender, and security issues. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.

Link:
Immigration reform must be a priority for the incoming Biden-Harris administration. Heres where to start - The Boston Globe