yesterday was july 4th and i resisted the urge to immigrantpost all day but here it is today
my dad came here at 21 in the 80’s to do a full scholarship masters, and eventually phd. he had no support system and no back up plan - he was the only guy from his town to get into IIT bombay and one of the few people in india that could come to the US stipended with <$60 in hand upon arrival
and then, upon completion of his degrees, he was invited to stay. i think some referred to them as ‘genius visas’
him and my mother met and fell in love at a wedding in india. i was present at that first wedding when they met and then at at their wedding ~2 years later, amidst a seemingly grueling immigration battle. i remember him flying to see me half a dozen times with as many books + sets of hot wheels as he could muster
my mom became a citizen upon their marriage and i was automatically granted citizenship when i turned 18. i was smart - because of my genius dad and my artist + yogi + fashion designer mother. but not even close to as smart as the people i know today struggle to get an o-1 visa or a green card
friends that have had to choose between continuing a dead-end tech job and moving back to their home countries if they ever want to leave the firm sponsoring them
my job isn’t particularly complex or earth shattering and i certainly don’t have knowledge in my brain that’s advancing any frontier of technology. (sorry, just being self aware here) and yet, i get to apply for any job i want - and even ones i definitely don’t deserve - with no risk of rejection based on my immigration status
today - 22 years and a few weeks after my immigration to this country - we need smart people like my dad to be able to afford to come to school here and stay now, more than ever. if we want to stay relevant in a global ai race, we need the smartest people in the world on the frontlines and a US citizenship won’t just solve their problems, it’ll also allow us to bestow upon them a level of commitment and loyalty to this country.
and if you ask around, so many of the most ardent patriots of our nation aren’t those that were born here - but those that were compelled to create a home on this soil in pursuit of their version of the american dream.
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