Pro-migration, Indian-born Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) has filed impeachment articles against President Donald Trump, accidentally showcasing the growing role of ethnic Indian politicians in Congress.
Trump is “unfit to serve as President and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s constitution and our democracy,” Thanedar declared on Monday. “This isn’t leadership — this is tyranny,” said Thanedar, one of six Indian-origin legislators in Congress.
The impeachment is not backed by top Democrats, but may be an effort to fend off at least two primary challenges before the 2026 election.
Thanedar was born to a very poor family in Belgaum, Karnataka, India, in 1955. He became a chemist, studied in the United States in 1979, and established a string of chemical and drug testing companies that he used to fund his political career.
At least one of his companies went bankrupt, forcing state officials to rescue more than 100 animals from an abandoned site in 2010. “In addition to 118 dogs, many of which had not yet been used for testing, animal groups rescued 55 monkeys from the facility, according to media reports from 2010,” the Detroit Free Press reported in 2018. The report added:
“The bank took over (in April 2010) and this thing happened three months later,” Thanedar told the Free Press. “What happened in those three months, I have no idea,” but “people are using this to discredit me, and it’s not correct.”
Thanedar is scoffing at two primary challenges in his district, which is 80 percent African-American. “I know firsthand what it’s like to struggle and make ends meet,” he said. “I’m passionate about ensuring everyone gets a free education, universal healthcare, and access to skills training to get good-paying jobs.”
But Thanedar would import millions of Indians to take those jobs.
For example, his House website hosts a pro-Thenedar article published by India Today:
The bill — HR 9023, the Keep STEM Graduates in America Act — proposes changes to the H-1B visa process and increases the number of available visas each year, making it easier for [Indian] graduates to stay on in the US. This will benefit lakhs [100,000s] of Indians and millions of foreign students.
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“As an immigrant whose educational opportunities in the US shaped all the subsequent opportunities I received, I understand the importance of keeping our most gifted students in the country,” he said, reported news agency ANI.
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In 2022, Indians secured 77% of the 320,000 approved H-1B visas. This year, the USCIS anticipates around 350,000 applicants, a decrease attributed to new measures against fraud.
The outsourcing-to-India bill was backed by pro-Indian advocates at the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS). Also, India’s government aggressively pushes for more visa programs, which they use to convert U.S. white-collar jobs into jobs for Indians and revenue for the Indian government.
Roughly 1 million Indian visa workers now hold U.S. white-collar jobs in the United States, partly because of support from President Joe Biden’s deputies, and anti-American discrimination by Indian employers.
Many more Indians got B-1 visitor visas to drive trucks on U.S. highways, and many use E-2 visas to run franchise businesses throughout the United States, amid the huge population of roughly 725,000 Indian illegal migrants.
Trump’s deputies have blocked off the inflow of new Indians and have begun some deportations. But India’s government and U.S. investors are lobbying hard to send more Indians into U.S. white-collar jobs.
“This [H-1B] bill is just one of many that I support because they bring us closer to a more equitable world,” said Thanedar, who also urged a ten-fold increase to the current inflow of at least 100,000 H-1B migrants each year.
Thanedar also wants to remove the cap on the number of green cards awarded to Indian migrants each year. If removed, at least one million extra Indian migrants would get citizenship and be able to vote in U.S. elections five years later.
In April, Thanedar signed a letter with two other Indian-American politicians to pressure the Fannie Mae mortgage giant to reverse its firing of several hundred white-collar migrants from India amid evidence of fraud in charitable spending.
“It has been brought to my attention that Fannie Mae has accused hundreds of my constituents in the Indian-American community of fraudulent behavior and fired them without conducting a full investigation or providing evidence,” said an April 9 letter from Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Thanedar. “We also request a briefing for ourselves and our staff at your earliest convenience,” the letter said.
Other ethnic politicians are pushing for the impeachment of Trump or his deputies, including ethnic Somalian Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and African-American Rep. Al Green (D-TX).
These ethnic politicians have emerged since the bipartisan 1965 and 1990 immigration acts greatly expanded global migration and chaotic diversity. The clout of older European ethnic political blocs — such as the Poles and Irish — shrank in the decades after the 1924 immigration act almost closed off European migration.
The leading Indian-born legislator in Congress is now Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
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