US senator mocks Chilkoor Balaji temple over controversy; ‘They were just praying’

Senator Eric Schmitt is a staunch critic of the bill. H-1B visa OPT (Optional Practical Training) has targeted India’s Chilkoor Balaji temple in its latest tirade against visa fraud, saying American workers should not have to compete with a system that houses cartels and temples. Indians hit back at the hatred and condemned Senator Schmidt for calling the temple part of a game while devotees were simply praying for their US visas at the famous temple near Hyderabad.Schmidt’s latest jibe draws on a variety of sources: a British news documentary on H-1B, a lawsuit filed by a Chinese-American professor against Southern Methodist University in Texas, accusing an Indian-American department chair of favoring Indians only for tenure-track positions.Schmidt wrote: “Big tech companies laid off thousands of American workers while filling thousands of H-1B petitions for the same positions. 82% of these foreign workers were paid below the median. Billions of people are now flowing to India for AI training, subsidized by Americans.”“This is part of a global ‘visa cartel.’ Networks recruit overseas, lie on resumes, file petitions, and treat workers like cattle. Shell companies and kickback schemes funnel cheap, visa-dependent labor to U.S. jobs while Americans are ignored,” he was quoted as saying. Schmidt said little is known about how the L-1 visa has become big business for the “visa cartels” and the number of applications continues to increase.“F-1 visas are also a silent job killer. Foreign students (India accounts for nearly half) receive taxpayer-subsidized work permits and businesses have no payroll taxes or wage rules. They flow into H-1B and then green cards, while debt-ridden American graduates compete with cheaper labor,” the rant continued. “The ‘visa cartel’ has its own ‘visa temple’ in Hyderabad, where thousands of Indians gather around the altar to get their passports endorsed with US work visas. American workers should not have to compete with a system like this,” he wrote.“Enough is enough. We must end fraud, shut down these networks, close loopholes, and ensure we serve American workers,” Schmidt concluded.

What is the “Visa Temple”?

The Chilkul Balaji temple in Telangana state near Hyderabad is known as the visa temple as many devotees come to the temple with visa wishes. Chilkur Balaji is also known as the “Visa God” for this practice. But Eric Schmidt upset Indians by saying the Hindu temple was part of a cartel. They question how this differs from Christians praying in church.