Asian-American delegation meets Biden, raises issues of immigration and voting rights

By Reena Bhardwaj
Washington [US], August 6 : US President Joe Biden has proposed a comprehensive immigration bill, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Thursday (local time) on the administration's move on 'documented dreamers' including children of H1B visa holders.
Speaking at the press briefing, the White House spokeswoman stated that "it's not current discussions but is something that he would like to address."
Meanwhile, a delegation of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community on Thursday met US president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris at the White House to discuss a range of issues including hate crimes and immigration.
Speaking about the H1 B visa issue, Executive director of Indian American Impact, Neil Makhija, told ANI that he "raised issues of immigration, voting rights and specifically green card backlog in context of explaining how country caps are remnants of exclusionary laws in the past, particularly enacted in the 20s."
He also told ANI that Biden has an "acute awareness of the unfairness in the system."
Makhija also raised two bills including the Eagle act and America's Children Act and said it will be introduced in the coming days.
Taking about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Executive director of Indian American Impact, said, "The second deals we've documented dreamers who, like, other dreamers came here as children, but they had some legal status and so they didn't qualify for DACA."
So we encouraged President Biden, the Vice President to consider those dreamers, he said.
Stating that Biden started the meeting by saying, "This is not a one-time thing, right, he's starting a conversation with members of our community including on this issue," Makhija said "I didn't ask for that what we were doing is introducing him, and he was acutely aware of many of these issues already."
Another major topic of interest to AAPI leaders will be voting rights. Asian Americans increased their voter turnout from 2016 to 2020 more than any other racial or ethnic group, and a majority voted for Biden. Asian American leaders are worried that new, more restrictive voting laws being passed in GOP-led states could erase those gains. The two sides will also discuss economic investments in the AAPI community, the fight against, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
AAPI leaders believe the meeting has been long is overdue given the growing size of the demographic in the United States and its subsequent importance to the Democratic Party.
Attendees from AAPI included roughly a dozen leaders from various outside groups, including the Asian American Justice Center, Asian, and Pacific Islander American Vote, and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.