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1. Embed this notice
   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 00:18:11 JST Adrianna Tan

   Most people just can't help being racist AF when it comes to discussing anything about H-1B and immigration.

   Yes, especially in the Bay Area.

   https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1togs0r/indians_rise_reshaped_the_bay_area_and_powered/

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 00:20:08 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     "H-1B is just indentured slavery"

     Yes, and

     I don't trust that anyone who says that actually cares about improving conditions. If they did they would have a much deeper understanding of how this works and how to fix it. (Bipartisan immigration reform and more legal support for immigrants) They just want to feel better about why they oppose it from a 'left' / humanist position vs 'they are just shit faced racists'

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 00:21:31 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     'Employers should just hire native-born Americans'

     Native-born Americans also include people of Indian origin. Many. Unless you are Native, do you really just mean... white? People with citizenship? What about people with green cards, are they native enough? Who decides and why do you get to?

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 00:32:10 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     Yes, there are problems with the H-1B program

     Yes, there are many avenues for fraud

     Yes, it's probably not good that H-1B workers feel they have to work 60 hour work weeks, never organize a union or participate in one, or live in fear of job loss and deportation

     But the answer isn't 'reduce the H-1B program' or 'remove it entirely'.

     Every major economy has a 'high skilled workers visa'; this is ours. It's not perfect. None of them are. It causes pain and suffering. Almost all of them do. Anything who holds up some other country or continent's version as 'much better' doesn't know anything about work visas.

     There are really two paths to improving the H-1B. One is significantly reducing the no of visas that Cognizant, Tata, Wipro and other 'bodies for hire' body shops get. This is happening, in part, with some recent onerous changes (100K per visa + preference for the more highly paid / skilled foreign workers).

     The other is to change the country caps system. This requires bipartisan, massive, generational immigration reform. The country cap system (in which India and China has the same no of green cards as say, Andorra or Singapore), leads to decades- long, even hundreds of years long wait times for permanent residency. This is the precise mechanism that keeps many H-1B workers from improving their conditions.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 00:34:03 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     And H-1Bs for physicians, nurses, anyone who works in care and education, especially in rural communities, should probably be moved under the same system that non-profits and schools get (no caps / lottery).

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 00:36:56 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     Removing the H-1B program will effectively mean that the only people who can became a permanent resident or eventual citizen is someone who marries a citizen or is a relative. Not to say there are *no other avenues* but in practice, numerically, this is what it will mean.

     Making it impossible for the most highly skilled people to make this country their home. In spite of whatever is going on, it seems like many still do want to make it their home.

     This would be a fundamental change in how immigration has worked and improved everyone's lives (most countries, but *especially* this one).

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 01:11:48 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     Until I hear someone complain about Swedish H-1Bs, German H-1Bs, Japanese H-1Bs.. (there are many! what visas do you think anyone else in a tech job is on? The same one), I’m very confident in chalking up 95% of the anti-H-1B talk to just plain old racism and nativism.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 02:05:31 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     There’s a very specific brand of anti-South Asian and middle eastern sentiment in US liberal cities, shaped like concern for minorities and rights but is really just patriarchal racism.

     Someone will talk about experiencing racism and it almost inevitably often leads to someone going ‘but India treats women so poorly there is so much sexual assault!’

     Guys

     If the rest of the world talked about the U.S. the way you guys talk about us, you wouldn’t be able to handle it.

     ‘I’ll never go to Dubai! They have slaves!’

     Yes, what about…. Never mind.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 02:18:40 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • random stranger

     @kyonshi racism also means most white Americans will hear that and be like yeah I guess my bad but also freak the fuck out if a person from India says America is now too dangerous to visit (more true for them).

   • Embed this notice
     random stranger (kyonshi@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 28-May-2026 02:18:41 JST random stranger

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte to be fair, a lot of Europe currently sees the US as too dangerous to visit