To address repeated questions about the veracity of the video of Senator Dick Durbin that has been circulating on Twitter and the suggestion that clip is being interpreted “out of context”, I would like to share my firsthand experience at the event where that video clip was recorded.
I have been an Illinois resident for close to seven (7) years now. I am a mom, a wife, an immigrant professional, and I am proud of all three. I am part of the backlogged community of immigrants stuck in 100+ year backlogs due to discriminatory Per-Country limits. I went to graduate school in this country and am originally from India. I have also tried to speak with Senator Durbin to recognize our plight and support The Fairness Bill for a long time.
That is why, last week, when I heard that Senator Durbin was hosting a Coffee with Constituents event in DC, I decided to fly down from Chicago to Washington, D.C. I was looking forward to speaking with Senator Durbin regarding the issue of Green Card backlog and highlight to him that, as an important democratic leader in the US Senate, this issue was an important one for him to be on the right side of.
When I walked into the atrium on the 9th floor of the Senate Hart building nearly 30 minutes before the event, the only attendees were a white woman from Glen Ellyn, Illinois and myself. We were asked to sign in to make sure we were Constituents. We wondered why the event had such low attendance, but then right at the start-time of the event, large crowds of men with middle eastern features, women in headscarves and a few children entered holding something in their hands. Alongside them, were also young East Asian men and women. They were in majority in that room and some folks wore t-shirts that said “NOS386” (referring to the Fairness Bill in the Senate — S.386). The sudden influx of the crowd seemed odd, so I asked the staff if they were constituents. They had not signed-in at that point, yet the staff declared to me that they were from Illinois. There was also a very small number of South Asians and white folks in attendance.
The atmosphere in that room felt like the new entrants were there with a clear purpose. As would unfold during the event, most people were from Iran and China and their main purpose was to oppose the Fairness Bill. From their introductions, it was clear that most did not live in Illinois. They were there with the sole purpose of opposing S.386. Every time the senior senator from Illinois said something against the Indian community, there would be thunderous applause from the Iranian and Asian attendees, which seared into my ears.
Senator Durbin reinforced their mischaracterization of Indian immigrants by providing data that was demonstrably false and filled with stereotypes. For example, when an Indian father of two, and a Harvard graduate spoke about the horrors of the Green Card backlog, the Senator responded with his concerns about Indian IT companies that abuse the H1B system, completely glossing over the attendee’s pain and completely overlooking that those in the backlog are not the ones abusing the system, and most did not even work in IT companies. In fact, they are forced to renew their work authorizations every three years and live each day in uncertainty (unlike folks who get their Green Card within a year based on their country of birth).
A Chinese man stood up to defend per-country caps, saying “they are actually good for us immigrants because now they allow for non-European nationalities to come to the US” (this was very odd, as if saying that US allowing the entry of non-Europeans was some kind of a favor).The Senator mentioned how “it isn’t fair to give all the green cards to India”, ignoring the fact that Green Cards are awarded to individuals, not countries. He also mentioned that “…naturally, the Indian population in America likes the bill because they’ve got more people who will come to the line while others will be held back.” This is textbook race baiting as defined by Noam Chomsky — “It is much simpler to control population by pitting sub groups against each other than treating them equally”. Senator Durbin conveniently forgot that employment-based Green Card applications are given to individuals based on their skill and it is against labor laws to award jobs based on country of birth. When a job is provided on skill, why is lawful permanent residency based on that job suddenly taking country of birth into consideration?
During the event Senator Durbin continued to pit Indians and other nationalities against each other and laid the responsibility of this tension at the doorstep of the Indian community by suggesting that we simply needed to wait while he negotiated for more Green Cards (than the current 140,000 set aside for employment-based visas) rather than passing this bill as it is which only asks for equal treatment. In a nutshell, Senator Durbin is demanding a ransom of more green cards from Republicans before he can agree to equality for Indians.
The most painful part of the event was when an Iranian student from a University in Illinois said that he agreed that there should be more green cards and proceeded to hand Senator Durbin a green index card saying “if they want more green cards, I’ll give you one”. People laughed and jeered as the Senator provided the punchline, “thank you very much…. I have been waiting for years”. He had used the backlogged community’s words- what we have been saying to express our distress as a community- as a punchline to a highly insensitive “joke”. This entire enactment was greeted with uproarious laughter from the Anti-Fairness crowd as they held up similar ‘Green Cards’ in a hazing technique. Most of the crowd was carrying these fake “Green Cards”, they had organized themselves to play out this sick joke! This display of outright disregard for the backlogged Indian immigrants made me sick! The Senator’s participation in this mockery of our pain will remain seared in my memory.
From my second-row aisle seat where the Senator could easily see me, I held my hand up throughout the event, for an opportunity to ask questions, to provide rebuttals to the demonstrably false information being shared at the event. Not once was I picked. As a brown woman, I have never felt more invisible.
After the event, I made my way to the senator to introduce myself as a constituent and to share verifiable information about the Fairness bill, I was rudely interrupted by a man yelling ‘don’t believe them Senator. They are all liars’. The senator did not try to correct him or anyone else launching such attacks on the Indian community. At that point, another man pushed his body between me and senator, literally pushing me to a side. Senator Durbin saw this and he did not tell them to not push a woman. He also did not let me finish, he simply moved on. It was as if Senator Durbin wanted them to push me out.
I wasn’t alone in my frustration at the event, the white constituent from Glen Ellyn was equally frustrated with what looked like a planned chaos of an event. She asked me why this supposedly friendly “Constituent Coffee” event felt like “hazing”. She too wondered why people wanted to keep these separate lines for the same green cards, instead of a single one. She later told me that she asked the staffers why there were all these non-constituents at the constituent coffee? The answer — “there’s a bill up for vote and we want to hear from everyone”. I echo her question, why call it “Constituent Coffee”? Why this charade of wanting to hear from the people of Illinois? And why say “hear from everyone” when Senator Durbin heard mainly from the opposition of the Fairness Bill and used his speech to reinforce their misinformation.
The event left me completely heartbroken, disillusioned and disappointed regarding the senior Illinois Senator. I don’t think I will believe a thing he says on the Senate Floor, about Dreamer kids (who I empathize with) because who knows? Senator Durbin might also bring in Iranian men to bodily push immigrant children and he might want to keep caps on Dreamers based on their country of birth.
What is especially confusing about Senator Durbin’s stance is that he literally does not demand compensation to those affected by laws seeking equality in any other context:
1) For instance, Senator Durbin supports In-State tuition for undocumented immigrants. Putting aside that many children of backlogged parents cannot get In-State tuition even though they are here legally, I support this for the unfortunate children in this circumstance. The premise is that all children living in a State should be treated equally. But as we all know, State Universities only have so many slots, so if an undocumented person is now going to a university that they previously could not afford, it is excluding someone else. Does Senator Durbin say I will only support In-State tuition for undocumented immigrants if it means no one else will lose a university slot? Of course not! You can Google about Senator Durbin for 20 hours and you will not find him making any such demand.
2) Senator Durbin favors ending the electoral college and is on a bill to do so. Again, this is probably a good idea. But notice, in this context, does he ask, what impact will this have on the rights of people living in small states? Of course not! Here he says each person should count equally and not be part of a “Per-State cap”.
3) Senator Durbin favors equal pay for women, which of course I support. But given that employers only have so much money, if you pay women more, this likely means at least some men make less. Is he insisting that any law that requires women to be paid equal must not lower the total compensation paid to men? No, because that’s absurd. Right?
I could go on and on, but you get the point. Why has Senator Durbin literally chosen just this one bill seeking equal treatment under the law for all human beings to extort a ransom for those negatively affected by equality?
This is beneath of the Office of the Senator from Illinois to continue supporting discrimination against people of India. We thought Senator Durbin was better than this.
Link to my Tweet: https://twitter.com/psyinfeld/status/1177355239877427200
