Indian-origin investor Vivek Wadhwa attacked for ‘teaching in rural Alaska’ suggestion, says anti-India attacks are completely out of control
Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa says anti-India attacks on social media platform X have gotten completely out of control after he was targeted for his views on the H-1B program. Wadhwa has become embroiled in a major controversy when he recently made comments in court that the Trump administration’s $100,000 H-1B fee was invalid.Sen. Lisa Murkowski welcomed the court order and said it was timely because Alaska schools are in the middle of hiring season and often have to rely on H-1Bs. “Many school districts in rural and remote parts of the state rely on the H-1B visa program to bring quality teachers to their communities. In Alaska, this is not a partisan issue: The state Legislature last month unanimously passed a resolution urging the federal government to waive the fees for educators,” Murkowski said.Wadhwa commented on this, asking why Americans were not interested in teaching jobs in Alaska, and then cried about having his job taken away by H-1B visa holders. Wadhwa pointed out this hypocrisy, writing: “Dear anti-immigrants who keep complaining about foreigners taking American jobs: Why don’t you teach in rural Alaska? Hundreds of positions are vacant. Remote areas are bringing in teachers from overseas on H-1B visas because you won’t move there. You don’t actually want the jobs; you just want the jobs. You just don’t want qualified foreigners to have them. Totally hypocritical. “Wadhwa’s observation was twisted and interpreted to mean that he was asking Americans to teach in Alaska, allowing Indian H-1B immigrants to take away all Fortune 500 jobs and careers.Wadhwa countered that he never said those words and that he was not even a supporter of the H-1B visa program. He was targeted simply because of his Indian ancestry and he had never actually lived in India. “The anti-India attacks are completely out of control. For the record: I have never lobbied for H-1B visas, and I don’t even like the program. I have said time and time again that the massive green card backlog it creates amounts to indentured servitude. I’ve never really lived in India either. This is overt racism,” Wadhwa said.
Who is Vivek Wadhwa?
Vivek Wadhwa is an Indian-American technology entrepreneur and academic. He is a Distinguished Fellow and Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Engineering in Silicon Valley and a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Working Life Program. Born in India, he graduated from the University of Canberra in 1974 with a BA in Computer Studies and from New York University in 1986 with an MBA.
