An Indian-American running for US Congress promised immigration reform world news

Currently a Virginia state senator, Subramaniam, 38, is running on the Democratic ticket in Virginia's 10th congressional district. If elected, he will join the Congress's Samosa Caucus, which currently consists of five Indian-Americans Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamurthy, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jaipal and Sri Thanadar.

I am running for U.S. Congress to represent an area outside of the Dulles Airport area of ​​Washington, DC. We are very confident that we can win this election as long as everyone gets out and votes. I will be the first Indian-American candidate elected to Congress on the entire East Coast and South of the United States. We have five now in Congress and I will be the sixth and I think we hope that having a seat at the table will be good for our community, he said.

Subramaniam said he will resolve the immigration issue. You know, people are talking about borders. Here we will have secure borders and I will invest in that. We also need to look at legal immigration and what we can do for those on H1B visas and those who are trying to get a green card but have to wait 10-15 years. He said that we have a very old quota system in the country.

I would like us to address this because I think there are countries like India, in particular, that have so much talent that can be a big part of our economic future and contribute a lot to America. I see them living in my neighborhood in Virginia and I see the struggle and I want to make sure we deal with it in a meaningful way, she said.

Calling for comprehensive immigration reform, Subramaniam said it must address border security, among other issues. If we do everything at once, that would be the best way. In short, if it is going to be fought with fights and discussions, let's at least try to resolve the quotas for some countries or at least try to change the status of those who are here, who are doing the right thing. .

Whether it's five years or ten years, if they're here for a certain period of time, they should be able to change their status so they don't have to leave the country if there's a situation where they have to renew their status or they might be fired. So I want to make sure that we're really looking at this in a broad way, but at least addressing the low-hanging fruit that everyone agrees on, the Indian-American state lawmaker said.

Subrahmanyam's parents came to the US through Dulles Airport in the late 1970s.

Dulles Airport was like their Ellis Island and when they came here they wanted a better life and we never imagined that someone like me named Suhas Subramaniam could be in the US Congress. But we want to make it a reality, and that starts with people getting out and voting in Virginia in November, he said.

My mother is from Bangalore and my father is from Chennai. He also spent a lot of time in Secunderabad as his father was in the military so there was a military base there. They decided to come here to have a better life. My mother, in particular, liked the idea of ​​me becoming a doctor in America,” she said.

He and my father met in medical college in Bangalore and then came here in the late 70s. They just taught me some values. First, serving is very important, giving back, creating a beautiful life. Education is also important. One of the things they wanted me to do was stay in touch with my Indian roots. So I always went back to India during the summer. I still have family there. “It's really important for me to continue that tradition and not just run because I'm an Indian-American, but I have a lot of ideas that I want to do, but run with pride in my background, in my heritage,” she said.

Responding to a question, Subrahmanyam spoke in favor of strengthening India-US ties.

The US-India relationship is very important because India is one of the most important democracies in the world. And so we want to make sure that we have a good relationship with other democracies around the world, he said.

The US and India have a naturally strong relationship. A large number of Indian Americans live here. We have a large Indian diaspora. Many Indian students come to study here. And many US companies have offices in India. We have a strong economic partnership. I think we can now begin to see what a defense partnership might mean and how we can work together on technology transfer, just with common defense strategic objectives. I think it will be a very important relationship for both countries in the long term. And I think that's something that, even aside from the fact that I'm American, is something that I think will be really good for our country going forward, he said.