In a major policy document for Indian-Americans released on the occasion of India's 74th Independence Day, the Biden Campaign also emphasised its support to family-based immigration system.
Published: 16th August 2020
Democratic presidential nominee, former US Vice President Joe Biden (R), and vice presidential running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris. (Photo | AFP)
By PTI (PRESS TRUST INDIA)
WASHINGTON: If voted to power in the November general elections, a Biden administration will reform the H-1B visa system and work towards eliminating the country-quota system for Green Cards, his campaign said on Saturday, in a move to woo the influential Indian-American community.
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.
Companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
In a major policy document for Indian-Americans released on the occasion of India's 74th Independence Day, the Biden Campaign also emphasised its support to family-based immigration system and streamlining processing for religious worker visas.
The administration will also take steps to stem the rising tide of hate and bigotry, address the security needs of house of worship, eliminate language barriers and honour the diversity and contributions of Indian-Americans, it said.
This is for the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate has come out with an exclusive policy document for Indian-Americans.
There are 1.3 million eligible Indian-American voters across eight battleground states.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is scheduled to address the Indian-American community in a video message later in the day.
Biden will support family-based immigration and preserve family unification as a core principle of our immigration system, which includes reducing the family visa backlog, his campaign said.
"He will increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions and exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programmes in STEM fields," the campaign said.
"And, he will support first reforming the temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty jobs to protect wages and workers, then expanding the number of visas offered and eliminating the limits on employment-based Green Cards by country, which have kept so many Indian families in waiting for too long," it said.
According to the policy document, Biden will restore and defend the naturalisation process for Green Card holders.
A Green Card allows a non-US citizen to live and work permanently in America.
"He will increase the number of refugees we welcome into this country by setting the annual global refugee admissions target to 125,000 and seek to raise it over time to commensurate with our responsibility, our values, and the unprecedented global need," it said.
"He will also work with Congress to establish a minimum admissions number of 95,000 refugees annually.
Biden will remove the uncertainty for Dreamers by reinstating the DACA programme and explore all legal options to protect their families from inhumane separation," the campaign said.
It said Biden will end workplace raids and protect other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions.
As a largely immigrant community, but in some cases with American roots reaching back generations, Indian-Americans know firsthand the strength and resilience that immigrants bring to the US, the campaign said.
"But President Trump has waged an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants.
It's wrong, and it stops when Biden is president," it alleged.
"Biden will rescind Trump's Muslim ban on day one and reverse the detrimental asylum policies that are causing chaos and a humanitarian crisis at our border," the campaign said.
"He will immediately begin working with Congress to pass legislative immigration reform that modernises our system, with a priority on keeping families together by providing a roadmap to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants -- including more than 500,000 from India," it said.
Indian-Americans of all backgrounds -- Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, and others -- have been subjected to bullying and xenophobic attacks and need now, more than ever, a reassurance that the US leaders in Washington will have their backs, it said.
During the Obama-Biden administration, the FBI expanded its hate crime statistics programme to include Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists.
As President, Biden will directly address the rise in hateful attacks and enact legislation prohibiting someone convicted of a hate crime from purchasing or possessing a firearm, it said.
"Biden will appoint leaders at the Department of Justice who will prioritise the prosecution of hate crimes, and he will order his Justice Department to focus additional resources to combat hate crimes -- including religion-based hate crimes -- and to confront white nationalist terrorism," it said.
"He will also seek legislation that increases the potential sentence for certain hate crimes that occur in houses of worship and other religious community sites, such as gurdwaras, mandirs, temples, and mosques.
And, he will use his executive power to ensure that the Department of Justice pursues such heinous acts of violence against houses of worship to the fullest extent of the law," the campaign said.
Noting that in 2012, the Sikh community suffered a terrible tragedy when a white supremacist opened fire in an Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara, ultimately killing seven and wounding four, the campaign added that in January 2019, a Hindu temple was the victim of a horrific act of vandalism and destruction, with windows shattered and xenophobic messages spray-painted across the walls.
Biden administration will place 'high priority' on strengthening India-US ties
In a major policy document on Indian-Americans, the campaign said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia, cross-border or otherwise.
Published: 16th August 2020
Joe Biden (Photo | AP)
By PTI
WASHINGTON: A Biden administration will place a "high priority" on continuing to strengthen the India-US relationship, his campaign said on Saturday, asserting that no common global challenge can be solved without the two countries working as responsible partners.
In a major policy document on Indian-Americans, the campaign said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia, cross-border or otherwise.
A Biden administration will also work with India to support a rules-based and stable Indo-Pacific region in which no country, including China, is able to threaten its neighbours with impunity, it said.
"Biden will deliver on his long-standing belief that India and the United States are natural partners, and a Biden administration will place a high priority on continuing to strengthen the US-India relationship," the Biden Campaign said as Indians and 4 million Indian-Americans celebrated India's Independence Day.
"No common global challenge can be solved without India and the United States working as responsible partners," said the campaign as it released 'Joe Biden's Agenda for the Indian American Community' policy document.
"Together, we will continue strengthening India's defense and capabilities as a counter-terrorism partner, improving health systems and pandemic response, and deepening cooperation in areas such as higher education, space exploration, and humanitarian relief," the campaign said.
The policy document comes days after former vice president Biden named Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Harris, whose father is an African from Jamaica and mother an Indian, is the first-ever Black vice-presidential nominee.
"Biden will ensure that South Asian Americans are represented in his administration, starting with his Vice-Presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris, whose mother emigrated from India to study and build a life in the United States," the campaign policy document said.
"Our government will reflect the diversity of the United States, and Indian American voices will be included in shaping the policies that impact their communities.
From fighting COVID-19 to building our economy back better to reforming our system of immigration, a Biden-Harris Administration will be one that Indian-Americans can count on," it said.
As the world's oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India are bound together by their shared democratic values: fair and free elections, equality under the law, and the freedom of expression and religion, the campaign said.
"These core principles have endured throughout each of our nations' histories and will continue to be the source of our strength in the future," it said.
Biden played a lead role, both as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as the Vice President, in systematically deepening the US' strategic engagement, people-to-people ties, and collaboration with India on global challenges, it said.
"In 2006, Biden announced his vision for the future of US-India relations: 'My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States'," it said.
He has also worked to make that vision a reality, including leading the charge in Congress, working with Democrats and Republicans, to approve the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2008, said the campaign.
The Obama-Biden administration continued to deepen collaboration between India and the United States on strategic, defence, economic, regional, and global challenges.
Biden was a major champion of growing and expanding the US-India partnership.
Recognizing India's growing role on the world stage, the Obama-Biden administration formally declared US support for India's membership in a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council, it said.
The Obama-Biden administration also named India a "Major Defense Partner" -- a status approved by the Congress -- to ensure that when it comes to the advanced and sensitive technology that India needs to strengthen its military, India is treated on par with its closest partners, it said.
Former President Barack Obama and Biden also strengthened their cooperation with India to fight terrorism in each of "our countries and across the region", it added.
The Obama-Biden administration worked closely with India to secure the successful signing of the Paris Climate Agreement to address the global climate crisis that "threatens all our peoples".
"A Biden administration would bring the United States back into the Paris Agreement, giving us the ability to again work closely with India to fight climate change and once more work hand in hand to reduce our carbon emissions and secure our clean energy future, without which we cannot build the green economy we need," the campaign said.
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