July 12, 2007
What: Hundreds of legal, highly-skilled workers, who feel disappointed by the recent "flip-flop" enacted by the Department of State (DoS) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), with regards to eliminating the Green-Card processing delays, plan to stage a peaceful rally to bring attention to their issues and to demand a fair and equitable treatment.
Where: The New City Hall 200 E Santa Clara St San Jose, CA 95113
When: July 14th, 2007.
Planned Route: 11:00 AM: Meet at San Jose City Hall at 200 E Santa Clara St. 11:30 AM: Go to the square in front of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (150 E San Fernando St). 12:30 PM: Walk towards 635 N 1st St through S 4th St, E San Carlos St, Market Street and N 1st Street. 1:15 PM: Arrive at 635 N 1st St and stay till 2:00 PM 2:30 PM: back to City Hall
Why: Silicon Valley is the world’s most advanced crucible of innovation, an example that countries all over the world have tried to emulate. The success of Silicon Valley as a global hub of innovation has a lot to do with it being the world’s foremost melting pot of highly skilled immigrants. In San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, these highly skilled, legal immigrants who want to continue that tradition of innovation by becoming permanent residents of this country will stage a peaceful protest rally to bring awareness and attention to their issues. The people gathered at this peaceful walk are already huge contributors to the innovation edge of the US but their potential is still not fully tapped as it is still being hindered by unreasonable delays and bottlenecks in the process of gaining permanent residency (green-card)
With this effort, the skilled, legal immigrant community hopes to create awareness about their predicament and express their anguish and frustration at the reversal and the lack of action from the Government. These are the highly skilled workers who have been driving the innovation in the US for many decades and have been living in this country legally and yet, they feel that their issues, concerns and contributions to the economy have largely gone unnoticed. According to exhaustive research done by Vivek Wadhwa, executive-in-
Now, these highly-skilled professionals have decided to call attention to the "broken" immigration system in the U.S. for legal immigrants. Earlier this week – the community received widespread attention when hundreds of them sent flowers to the USCIS Director, Emilio Gonzalez. With the San Jose rally, the community of skilled, legal immigrants wants to put focus on people who have abided by the law, played by the rules and ask for a fair treatment and attention to their issues.
Media Contact: Please contact Gopal Chauhan at gsc999@gmail.com or 650-576-8759 for any questions.
References:
This article on the South Asian Journalist Association's forum explains the issues facing skilled, legal professionals in the US. Media coverage: http://www.sajaforum.org/
Washington Post: A Gift From Gandhi by Xiyun Yang. July 11, 2007; Page D01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/
The New York Times: A Floral Protest Over Job-Based Visas by Nina Bernstein. July 11, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/
Reuters: Indian green card seekers in flowery U.S. protest by Paul Eckert. July 11, 2007
http://in.today.reuters.com/
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: Tech Industry to keep pressing visa needs by Frank Davies. July 9, 2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/
THE TIMES OF INDIA: Green Card Hopefuls Resort to Gandhigiri in US by Chidanand Rajghatta. July 7, 2007 http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Immigration Malpractice. July 7, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Suit Planned Over Visas for the Highly Skilled by Julia Preston.
July 6, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Reversal Frustrates Green-Card Applicants by Miriam Jordan. July 5, 2007
http://online.wsj.com/
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: Green card cutback would hurt valley by L.A. Chung. June 6, 2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/
