H-1B Backlash Shows Indians They’re Not So Special Anymore
Despite being hailed as a ‘model minority,’ the diaspora can’t expect its outsize success to insulate it from anti-immigrant sentiment.
Ramaswamy set off a firestorm.
Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Indians have long been proud of what they see as their outperformance in the information technology sector. Companies such as Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. dominate IT-enabled services, bringing home billions of dollars in profits. US technology giants including Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., and International Business Machines Corp. have Indian-origin CEOs. India-trained engineers labor in the trenches of Silicon Valley and invisibly help Western companies adapt to the digital age.
It turns out that others have noticed this as well, and they aren’t happy. Over the past fortnight, Indians have watched aghast as victorious Republicans in the US have torn into each other over the future of H-1B visas.