Amy (from the Smoke Signal): How have the recent immigration enforcement changes impacted you or someone you know?
Anonymous: [It has] not impacted me, but maybe some of the new grad students were really affected. Yeah, maybe the people in the big ID companies are still okay, like Google, because they have enough money to pay [for] high services. But actually, the people I know, …it will be okay, but some other people will be definitely affected.
Amy: What is your personal biggest concern regarding these recent changes?
Anonymous: You’ve blocked many talented people from immigrating to the U.S. The $100,000 bar is a little bit too high.
Amy: And what do you think the downsides are to preventing those talented people from, like, getting into the US? What do you think the downsides are? How do you think that’s going to impact industries?
Anonymous: You will have less good, less talented workers, and especially for the Bay Area [and] the Silicon Valley, … companies are … short of workers, especially for engineers.
Amy: Have you or someone close to you had an experience with immigration deportation, Visa suspension or Visa reduction?
Anonymous: No.
Amy: Seeing the immigration crackdown increase along with violence conducted by officials, what do you imagine future immigration enforcement to look like?
Anonymous: What?
Amy: What do you imagine future immigration enforcement to look like seeing that the immigration crackdown has become more intense and violent?
Anonymous: Yeah, much, much fewer B visas [will be] given and, I think for the top people and worker engineers, they will be okay, but a little bit lower [in terms of skill level] but still talented workers will be eliminated.
Amy: Why do you think that?
Anonymous: $100,000 will eliminate them, and also increase the cost of companies. Who needs to hire those immigration people? For the big IT companies, they will be okay, but for smaller startup companies, $100,000 is a big cost, and [when] you prevent this startup company from hiring foreign people, then you affect the growth of many startup companies.
Amy: So essentially, it’s going to become more expensive?
Anonymous: Yes.
Amy: What do you want the readers or the Bay Area to know or understand about the immigrant community right now? Is there any message that you want to put out for the immigrant community regarding these recent changes in the immigrant community?
Anonymous: I don’t think they were affected, but just care about needing to not break the immigration rule. Now, sometimes, if you have a little bit [of] people who have some small fault when they apply their immigration, but now be more careful about this.
Amy: Can you describe some of the faults or mistakes that can happen during the application process?
Anonymous: Someone will try to work without a permit for a short time. I know one of my friends did that. He just made a mistake. He tried to do work as an intern when he was a student. That’s legal, but we need to apply OPD, optional practical training. He worked one week more than OBT time. I warned him that there would be danger, but later on, no one observed this, and he passed. Now, …in his case, maybe he will have a problem. Actually, this is a small fall, but just pay more attention to it. Prevent this.
Amy: Thank you for sharing! For many people, renewing visas and maintaining a legal status has been a lot more complicated, like you mentioned. So, how does this growing uncertainty and these complications affect your long term plans in education, career or life in the US?
Anonymous: [For] me, [there is] no effect, because I’m already a citizen. [It will] definitely affect many people who are studying or going to study, at least undergraduate or upper study, [in the] US.
Amy: With increasing crackdowns, how are you and your neighbors like looking out for each other? If there have been instances like, during times of crisis, you often see that a community comes together. Is there a moment that you could share where like your community stepped up for you or another person stepped up for you?
Anonymous: I didn’t contact those people much [due to] my health.
Amy: Thank you, that was all! Thank you for agreeing to the interview.