Believe In Arkansas
Believe In Arkansas
Common Sense Immigration Reform: The America's Children's Act Unpacked
Join us for a powerful conversation on one of the most critical pieces of immigration reform legislation – the America's Children's Act. In this thought-provoking episode of "Believe in Arkansas," we have two incredible guests joining host Ryan Norris: Dip Patel from improvethedream.org and Aneesh Komanduri, an Arkansan and expert advocate in the immigration field.
As we dive deep into the America's Children's Act, we aim to shed light on its potential impact on the lives of young immigrants and their families in Arkansas and beyond. This bipartisan legislation aims to address barriers and offer a pathway to a brighter future for children of H-1B holders who have grown up in the United States.
To learn more and see how AFP-Arkansas can help you or your organization increase your impact in our state, email us at infoar@afphq.org or visit us at believeinar.com.
Hello, Arkansas, welcome to another segment of Believe in Arkansas, where we believe that free people are capable of extraordinary things. And you know, one of the things I love about my state is that I can go to all four corners of it. And as I go across the state, I meet really cool, fun, interesting people. And today we have a fellow Arkansan, that's going to be a part of our podcast today that I'm excited to introduce to you. But before we get into the introductions of our guests, what I would like to do is talk to you about immigration reforms and how important that is to the people of the state of Arkansas, a lot of times people's minds go immediately to the southern border, about immigration. And, you know, it's much more complex than that. There are a lot of nuances and a lot of different individuals from across the world who want to be here in the land of opportunity to fulfill their dreams. And that is an amazing thing that our founding fathers created such a country, that individuals can come from wherever, contribute, become successful create value for our society. And that was an unheard of thing. Prior to the founding of this country, I believe that no one has done it better than us. And we still have things to improve in this in this space. But but that's what we're going to talk about today is about immigration and one particular piece of legislation out there called the America's Children's Act. And is this important to the state of Arkansas? Well, yes, it is. According to the American Immigration Council 5% of Arkansas residents are immigrants and another 5% are native born US citizens with at least one immigrant parent. And that's a significant number that's about 143,000 Arkansans as of 2018. And roughly about 10,000 of those are kids. And that's what the America's Children's Act will be kind of focusing in on is the children below the age of 21. And we're going to unpack that a little bit more, but it's more than just having a significant population. One in 14 Arkansas workers are immigrants, they make up a vital part of the state's labor force. And this is roughly about almost 100,000 that are doing work here in the state. One statistic that I saw that was very important in to me and my family is that in the life, physical and social science categories of occupational pursuits, 24%, nearly one in four are immigrants. And this is important because when we're talking about the needs that we have, for healthcare professionals, for, for professionals, in academics, or in computer sciences, this is an important understanding for us that 24% of our workforce in these areas are are immigrants and that immigrants contribute over a billion dollars in taxes in federal state, and local taxes here in the state of Arkansas. So they're here they want to contribute, they want to be a part, they're trying to help make our life better while they work within this framework that helps everyone be successful. And, and it's very fascinating again, because even in entrepreneurship, there are 12,800 immigrant business owners accounting for about 8% of the self employed small businesses in the state of Arkansas. This is amazing. This is the kind of folks that we want to have here in our state that we want to attract into our state. But there are barriers that can cause issue for the people who are contributing who are participating in our culture and in our society. And there's a that is what we're here to talk about today is there is a common sense immigration bill in the Americans Children's Act that we're going to discuss what problem that that's going to solve and so with me today I have Dip Patel of the improvethedream.org. Tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of what's brought you to Believe in Arkansas today.
Dip Patel:Thank you, Ryan. My name is Dip Patel. I am a pharmacist and I'm also the founder of improve the dream, which is a youth led organization advocating for ourselves, our families and legal immigrants in this country who want to fight and stay here so we can achieve our American dream. And I'm excited to be here on believing Arkansas to really share my story and to share the stories of 1000s of others who who are struggling, you know, to stay in the country but they want to do all all they can to achieve the dream for us and our country. So really excited to talk more about that today.
Ryan Norris:Thank you for being here and contributing your knowledge on this. I know that this is a passion for you and I really do appreciate that. And then my fellow Arkansan who I have had the pleasure to meet face to face and have some great conversation with, Aneesh Komanduri, Aneesh really a pleasure to meet you in Washington and then see you here on believing Arkansas. But give give us an introduction of who you are a lot of Arkansans haven't had the pleasure to meet you yet. I'm glad to be one who can present you to the rest of our fellow citizens. Yeah,
Aneesh Komanduri:Thanks, Ryan, for having us first of all, but yeah, I'm Aneesh. I'm currently a PhD student at the University of Arkansas. My family came to the country back in 2007, to Bentonville, Arkansas, and we lived there ever since. And this specific immigration issue has really impacted me on a personal level, myself and my family. And so, you know, along with Dip here, I'm representing the Improve The Dream organization, and really trying to, you know, fix this issue once and for all, so that I can stay, you know, in the country that I love, and, you know, give back to the community that I love here in Arkansas.
Ryan Norris:Well, you know, I have been around the world. And what's so cool is being in foreign countries and having individuals who said, Razorbacks, Arkansas, and that happened to me in several countries when I was traveling in Europe. So you know, we are a global community of Razorbacks and a global community of Arkansans. And it is so awesome, how diverse that our Arkansas culture is. So it was, again, a pleasure to meet a fellow Arkansan like yourself, and get to know you, a PhD student at the University of Arkansas that is excellent. And we're going to talk a little more about how your family has come come to be here and the contribution that you and your family have already made. But the first question I want to ask for you is what is the current problem that the American Children's Act is trying to solve? And this has already been introduced into Congress. So it's out there for individuals to look at. But what is the problem that we're trying to solve here with the Americans Children's Act?
Dip Patel:So when most people think of our immigration system, you know, they would think that there's some sort of a process in illegal immigration system where immigrants from around the country can come here, apply, get in line, eventually, they would get a permanent residency, green card, and then citizenship. Unfortunately, unfortunately, in reality, it isn't that simple. And there's a situation that I think most citizens would be surprised to learn. And it's that it's the fact that it's possible for an immigrant child to be brought here legally, be raised and educated here, but still not have a clear way to stay or a path to citizenship. And that is the issue we're talking about today and what America's children strives to solve. It's an issue that I believe, would create a reality that most Americans assume already exists, because what it's trying to do is say that if you're a child of a legal immigrant, who's been here for at least 10 years, and graduates from an American university, ready to work ready to contribute, you can adjust your status to a permanent resident, and then eventually achieve American citizenship. Unfortunately, that does not exist right now. And I think most Arkansans would be surprised to know that that does not exist. And and the reason this happens is there's two main reasons. One is that most immigrants, most skilled immigrants come to this country under high skilled work visas, where employers in need sponsor those workers to come here and eventually sponsor this process to start a Green Card sponsorship. And the process currently is so complicated, where it could take decades after the immigrants actually moved to the country for the government to approve their green cards, and eventual citizenship. So during this time, even if those immigrants bring a child who's essentially a baby, the baby could be a few days old. And then they grow up in this country. They're always legally here. Their parents have started the green card process. But if the government doesn't approve those green cards, by the time that baby turns 21, that individual will be kicked out of the country. They're going to be treated like a brand new immigrant, they're going to have to start the whole process over again. And it's this end let's loop where some people are probably going to die before they actually get their green cards. And these are mostly people who have just grown up in this country from a young age, we've taken a survey as a part of improve the dream. And the average age we were brought here was at the age of five, been here for nearly 15 years. So it's people who have been embedded into into the American culture in our communities. And another interesting fact, you know, you mentioned Aneesh as a PhD student in Arkansas. And 87% of affected individuals are either pursuing or have pursued stem and healthcare degrees. So it's a huge loss, not just for us being separated from our families who are still here, but also huge economic loss for the country. And so I mentioned that that's the one way those green card backlogs that are causing those delay. And the second way this happens is, it's actually possible for certain visa holders to come here, start a small business, they're trying to contribute to the economy, they start a small business, you know, embedded in their community, they're hiring American citizens, but because of how old our laws are, those visas can't be converted into a green card or citizenship. So those immigrants have been here for decades running a small business. And unfortunately, they'll eventually either have to just leave, or they're just, you know, their children who they brought with them, they're gonna have to leave the country without actually, you know, becoming a citizen. And that's, that's something that we've seen all over the country, I would love to share a few examples and a little bit as well.
Ryan Norris:Yeah. So the, again, the top, the top point that needs to be made clear, is that these are legal residents in the country, they came here in a legal pathway, but because of the backlog and the just slowness of the process, they're about to timeout in, in this loophole, and have to deport back to countries that they may not even have memories of. And so So that's an important factor here that this is a very common sense, focused in on a roughly I understand 200,000, roughly, that would be affected by this. And that are making contributions. I love that you have that statistic that 87% have worked are working in are pursuing STEM and healthcare base, because again, for us in Arkansas, having we are do not have enough health care professionals in our state. And so again, this is an idea that if we have individuals here, particularly in the healthcare in the STEM fields, because we want to grow our economy, we want to make our economy very, you know, forward thinking and tech driven and stem driven. We don't want to lose one person out of this state right now. So thank you for that overview and kind of outlining that, that question. So Aneesh, this hits home to you, obviously, I mean, you're being affected by this. So give us a little bit about how your family came to be here become Arkansans. And then, you know, what, what concerns do you have and what would the Americans Children's Act do to ease those concerns for you?
Aneesh Komanduri:Yeah, so my family immigrated to the US back in 2007, September of 2007. So my father actually came here on an H-1B work visa, so one of those high skilled work visas, so his employer sponsored him for that work visa, and he was able to bring his family along. Myself, my younger brother and my mom. We were dependents on that visa. So I was a an h4 dependent on my father's work visa. So we came here in '07. I was at eight years old at the time. And yeah, we came straight to Bentonville, Arkansas. You know, I've lived in Bentonville for close to now 16 years. You know, we made our home in Bentonville, Arkansas. And, you know, I remember when we actually came to Arkansas, at the very beginning, we actually came in September, so school had already started, and my dad had to kind of rush to get me enrolled into the third grade. So that you know, I could be educated. So that was a huge rush at that point. But yeah, I mean, you know, following that, I've essentially done everything in Arkansas, right. I've lived here. In fact, I haven't left. really haven't really left Arkansas ever since I did my you know, I finished up my elementary school, my middle school, my junior high high school, my undergrad, and now my PhD All in Arkansas, so I've been here my whole life. So, you know, I'm proud to call myself an Arkansan, and my family. You know, they're, they're proud to call themselves Arkansans. But, I mean, when we came here, we didn't envision, you know, that this sort of issue would actually exist. So my dad, you know, after working for the company for a couple of years, in 2011, he worked, he applied for permanent residency to get our green cards. But, again, we didn't really know about the backlog. And you know, we were kind of new to the process, we really didn't know much about the immigration system. So my dad was like, fairly confident, we'd get it like, pretty quickly. Because, you know, he came here on a, you know, high school work visa, and, you know, he thought everything would go smoothly, because, you know, my parents worked really hard to provide this kind of like, you know, better life for their kids. Right. All these opportunities. So, you know, that's kind of what the mindset was. And, you know, I didn't really know anything about immigration, because I was so young at that point. But due to the backlog, as you mentioned, many families are waiting in line for decades, potentially, right? So we were waiting in line for a long, long time to get our green cards. So it was almost never ending, right, we will always have to, we have this sort of uncertainty, we didn't know when we were gonna get it. And, yeah, so in high school, for example, I mean, I didn't really understand much about the immigration system. But in high school, I remember trying to apply for a summer job, because all my friends were doing it. So I was, you know, trying to also get some money. But because I was an independent status, I couldn't work, I had no work authorization. So that's kind of where I started to realize like, oh, okay, this, I'm kind of different, I can't really, you know, have the same opportunities as other people do. Right? As my peers. So, you know, I wasn't able to do that. And, you know, when it came time to apply for colleges, my senior year in high school, I was, I had to apply as an international student, right? My peers were applying as domestic students, you know, for whatever university, but I had to apply for an international as an international student, because I was on a visa, right. And for international students, the tuition is actually more expensive for a lot of university. And we're not eligible for a lot of scholarships. So that was a pretty big, that's when I kind of started realized that oh, man, immigration is actually going to play this, you know, big part in my life, right. And so after that, I ended up going to University of Arkansas, here in Fayetteville. And I pursuing degrees in computer engineering, computer science and mathematics. And, you know, when I was like, 19, I was a sophomore, I was still on the dependent visa under my under my dad. But to get some work experience, I was in computer sciences, so I kind of needed work experience to get, you know, my ball, the ball rolling in my career. So, you know, to potentially get work experience, I needed a student visa to maybe, you know, although the student visa only gives you a limited, you know, work working ability, I still had to kind of take that chance. So I applied for a student visa when I was around 19. And fortunately, you know, in about six months, it was approved, I was also kind of, I didn't know if it was going to be approved or not, that's also a little bit of uncertainty I had, but it was approved. But around that time, my family was consulting lawyers, like immigration lawyers to kind of understand like, what the future is going to be like, because we found out that when I turned 21, I'm no longer dependent on my, my, my dad's, you know, visa. So, at this point, we still didn't have our green cards. So we didn't really know, you know, what we needed to do to secure my future here to keep me in the country, right. And then we realized that there's this loophole in our immigration system where when people do you know, turn 21, when children have these long term visa holders turned 21. They're no longer you know, dependent on their families. And in my case, my family had a green card application that was pending. So when I turned 21, I would be basically separated from the application. Right. Which was, yeah, that was a pretty big shocker when I was 19. So we were kind of trying to figure out what we needed to do. At that point. I was on that student visa, which, you know, I mean, I could remain on that student visa as long as I'm a student, right. So right after that, you know, I wrapped up my undergrad and I applied for PhD program and, you know, in 2021 I I enrolled in the Ph. D. Program at the University of Arkansas studying computer science. But I turned 21 back in 2020. You know, worst year probably to turn 21. But my family received their green cards in 2021. So in year after I turned 21, my family received their green cards. And here I was just left out for no good reason, right. And now, you know, this was shocking, because I still remember that day. It was a very bittersweet moment, that day, my family actually got their green cards in the mail. Like, it was like, they were, they didn't really know how to react in front of me because, right, I didn't have you know, my, you know, I mean, the only reason they came here and did all of this was for kids, right? I mean, you know, so they felt really bad about that. And so, you know, and again, this is not unique situation, there are 1000s and 1000s of people throughout the country, who are in a similar situation, who are, quote, unquote, aging out and are no longer, you know, no longer have a pathway to citizenship.
Ryan Norris:Right, I can only imagine, you know, like, you're saying that, that cognitive dissonance that happened for your family when they get their green cards, but there's the potential that they could be separated from their child, because the process is not processing all of that simultaneously. It's doing it on this individual basis. And it's put them in you in this really crazy situation that no one should want to put their family through, or anyone else's family through. You know, I as a parent myself, that I get, just as a thought experiment, if I was to, to potentially be separated from my child from my daughter, that's, that's a lot to process for me. And I wouldn't want that to happen, particularly if it's just about a system. And no one's done anything wrong, everyone's here legally contributing to the community that we're a part of, and the process itself, the system itself has just broken to such an extent that this is a fear that the family has to carry right now that just, that's not right. That's not fair. So Dip, you know, from your perspective, what are some of the potential benefits? And I can automatically see a few here, but what are some of the benefits of passing the Americans Children's Act? And then how many Arkansans do we do we think would be impacted by this?
Dip Patel:There are many direct and indirect benefits. So by virtue of 99.9% of all of these affected, and young people who have grown up in this country, they're already assimilated into our culture. They're essentially America's children. That's why it's called America's children act, because these are America's children who have been raised as Americans who are highly educated 99.9%, pursue higher education, of which 87% are in the STEM careers. So these are individuals who are ready to contribute directly back to the country. And that obviously, is going to have significant benefits for our country. There's been studies that show billions and economic loss if we are continued to be forced to leave the country. And then as I had mentioned, many of our parents are also they're either high skilled workers, or many are small business owners themselves. And I want to give a give an example of what two examples of people that have had to leave in the last couple of years to demonstrate the loss to the country and the benefits that America is constantly losing year after year, without this being fixed. So there was a nurse in Florida, who was brought here from Europe, from England when she was just seven years old. So she was brought here as a child, her parents started a small business in their community. And they had that business for nearly 15 years. And the when, when she turned 21, and she aged out, and this was during the midst of the pandemic, a couple of years ago, when there was a shortage of healthcare workers for hospitals. And she was a new nursing grad, she was ready to work and contribute. And unfortunately, because of the mess in the paperwork and the way that how complex the immigration system is, a loophole prevented the hospital from actually being able to employ her, even though she's been here for nearly two decades, and she had to self deport she wasn't able to work in the midst of a pandemic she was forced to self deport And because of that, their parents didn't want to her parents and want to be separated from their daughter. So they close down their business. And they moved back to England after nearly two decades in the country. And that just shows that that is not just the loss for their family, that's a loss for that community, for the state and for America, because that's hurting the community. But it's also hurting employees, obviously, that we're working for them in that business. Similarly to another young person last year in Iowa, who had been there for nearly 20 years, was forced to leave after completing his education. And he was a computer scientist working for an Iowan company. And he worked for them temporarily, they tried to do the green card process for him. But again, it's a complex system, even for those who have legally been raised in the country. So he had to leave. But they couldn't find a replacement for him, they want to keep him because he's highly talented. So now he lives in Europe, but he works for them remotely. So in that scenario, what happened is he was separated from his family who still has a small business, they're the only, you know, he lost his family, but America lost a taxpayer and a contributing citizen of the country. So this scenario just shows how much of a loss it really is for America, if this isn't fixed, and the potential benefits are really more than economic, but on an economic lever level, they're in the billions, right? About do we know about how many Arkansans would be affected by this. So there would be between one to two thousand Arkansans that are directly affected by this families who would be affected by this and young people like us. However, as I mentioned, the reach of the impact of these individuals having to leave and on the opposite end, if the loophole was fixed, the impact that these individuals these 1000s of individuals could have is is significant, it would be potentially 10s of 1000s, impacted indirectly.
Ryan Norris:And just directly, for context, that would be between one and 2000 would be almost like losing my small hometown that I come from, in population in the state of Arkansas. And that is crazy to think about. But, but yeah, and then you you extrapolate out that additional, the secondary and tertiary impacts of they're leaving and not contributing to the economy. And again, just on the just being a dad, I don't want to get separated from my child. I want them to be here where it's safe. And and where we're, you know, I believe there's opportunity for them. So the the fact that we have that many children, potentially, to be separated from their families who again, have come here, the right way that everybody talks about, and we're about to have to have, have some of them do self deport when they turned 21. That makes no sense. That makes no sense. That's not right. That's not what we should stand for as Arkansans. We should we should be supportive of, of the Americans Children's Act, and to that point, Aneesh, Currently Congressman Steve Womack of Northwest Arkansas is a sponsor of this bill. He's he's a very pragmatic, good hearted man who I've had the opportunity to meet several times. He's a very thoughtful statesman. And if you Aneesh could give one message to the rest of our congressional delegation and your fellow Arkansans on why they should support this Americans Children's Act again, what would that be?
Aneesh Komanduri:Yeah, you know, I'm grateful, you know, for the Congressman's support. You know, I've met him, and it's, it was, again, just, I think the message would be that, you know, this is really a very common sense issue, right? Like, we don't, we're Americans, right? So this population, we are all Americans. We work here since we were kids, and we're ready to contribute back to our communities. Right. And, you know, we've paid taxes our families and paid taxes for years and years and years, we've been contributing to this nation since the day we stepped foot. And, you know, we were brought here legally, we've stayed here on legal status. And, you know, this is again, not only of course, it's a benefit to personally us because, you know, we don't have to be separated from our families. But, you know, as you kept saying, you know, the economy is greatly benefited by us staying in this country, because we give back to the economy, we stimulate the economy in this country. You know, people like me in Arkansas to stimulate the economy in Arkansas, right. We have, you know, a workforce shortage. As you mentioned before, you know, we need, you know, we have so many jobs that are available, we need people to fill these jobs. Right, and who better to fill these jobs than American raised and educated individuals who, you know, who are highly skilled and who are ready to step up and, you know, contribute to their nation? Right. So I think, you know, this is very much, so a common sense issue. And I think, you know, I've, you know, as soon as I graduate, my PhD, which I'm about halfway through, right, I want to, so I'm doing my PhD in computer science, in two years, two and a half years, I'll be graduating, but there's a little bit of uncertainty after that, because after that, you know, I have to apply for an H1-B, right, and the H1-B is something my dad applied for, at the very beginning to come to this country and work on that visa. And so I have to basically start this process from scratch. And, you know, if, if I do get an h1 visa, and get a work visa, which is on a lottery system, you know, the, I'm basically have to start the green green card process from scratch. So I'm just adding to the backlog, people like us will just be adding and making the situation worse, right. So we just have to stop the bleeding, at least, with this common sense fix. And personally, in Arkansas, you know, currently, I'm studying computer science, specifically my research is in, you know, explainable and trustworthy, artificial intelligence, right, a lot of the things nowadays are, you know, be used data driven decisions, for, you know, a lot of business are powered by data. So, you know, my skill, then people like me, who graduate with, you know, STEM degrees like this, or have, you know, high demand in the industry, right, specifically here in Arkansas, I, you know, I live in Northwest Arkansas, we have a lot of small businesses, a lot of startups, I want to start up my own company, you know, specifically, you know, using cutting edge technology for like, you know, medical applications and potentially agricultural applications, to make my community feel better, right. So, you know, it would be a shame to lose these people who are so determined and ready to give back. Because, you know, they've lived their whole lives in this country, just wanting to give back, right. So if there's any message, that message, it would be that that, you know, we're ready to give back. And, you know, we're here and we want to contribute to our nation.
Ryan Norris:Love it, love it. So, you know, just to go through and just recap really quickly, for those that have been listening, the American Children's Act, this is affecting legal residents and affecting nearly up to 2000 here in the state of Arkansas, such as Aneesh that this will impact our communities and our economy, particularly in the stem and healthcare fields, where Arkansas is trying to attract more individuals in that are in those areas of employment and career path. So we need to cultivate that continue to cultivate that. And that this is a, again, due to a slow and complex immigration system that is just dysfunctional. If you're looking at the southern border and the dysfunction that is down there with just the chaos that's happening the unnecessary chaos. Should America decide that it wants to to fix its immigration system, we can look at that extreme. But the Americans Children's Act is a very common sense approach to immigration that solves one small component 200,000 across the United States, one small component that will bring more peace of mind to these families that deserve it. They've been contributing their taxes. They've been contributing their their, their intelligence and their entrepreneurship to our country. And it's not right that we leave their families in this limbo. And again, we appreciate Congressman Steve Womack, supporting this bill. He is a thoughtful, thoughtful legislator. And this is something that all our Arlansans should be able to get behind the America's Children's Act. Dip, if if individuals in Arkansas want to know and learn more about the America's Children's Act, and maybe get plugged in to how they can help advocate for the passage of the Americans Children's Act. How can they go about doing that through Improve the Dream?
Dip Patel:Thank you, Ryan. All listeners can go to improve the dream dot org to learn more about what we're trying to do learn more stories of affected individuals and about America's Children's Act. As Ryan mentioned, this is something a congressman Womack already supports. It's also the most bipartisan immigration bill in Congress right now. And that is because as Ryan said, it's it's fixing one small component, a loophole in our system. And you know, I think when when most people meet someone affected by this or see a story of someone affected by this, they'll say that this makes absolutely no sense. And as I mentioned, The solution that we are striving for is something that most Americans would assume is already a reality. So I think it's a very light lift to get this done. And that's why it's already gotten so much support and something. I hope all our Arlansans can get behind.
Ryan Norris:Dip, Aneesh, thank you so very much for being guests here on the Believe In Arkansas podcast. We look forward to celebrating when the America's Children's Act does get passed. I know that this is a bill that Americans for Prosperity is supporting at the national level as as well as other like minded conservative organizations. And again, it is a bipartisan issue. It's very simple to wrap your mind around if you are pro legal immigration. This is a loophole that it that just creates a problem for those that have tried to do this the correct way. I hear that all the time. Well, people would do it the right way. I'm all for that. Well, these these individuals to be impacted by the Americans Children's Act. These are who you've been talking about. So throw your weight behind support for this legislation. Again, we thank Congressman Womack for being a leader on this in the state of Arkansas. And gentlemen, I look forward to seeing you again having you back here when we're able to celebrate the American Children's Act. And for everyone listening remember, we believe that free people are capable of extraordinary things.