US President Donald Trump has suspended till the end of the year the H-1B visas and announced a far-reaching reform plan that will issue visas on basis of ‘merit’.
A number of people, including Congressmen and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, have been critical of the move, saying that the United States is a land of immigrants.
And let's face it, barring the Native Americans, everybody else in the United States, irrespective of their ethnicity are immigrants, starting with US President Donald Trump
From Leif Eriksson, the man credited in discovering the United States to Sofia Vergara, the Colombian actor, who has become a household name thanks to her performance in shows like Modern Family and movies like Chef, here are 10 immigrants who have ensured that the United States is where it is.
Albert Einstein: Although Einstein held citizenships in both Switzerland and Germany, he disagreed with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi policies and finally left for the United States in 1933. He became a citizen in 1940 while teaching theoretical physics at Princeton.
Nikola Tesla: Nikola Tesla, the father of alternate current, and whose genius even questioned Einstein’s theory of relativity, moved to the United States from his native Serbia at the end of the nineteenth century. He became an American citizen in 1891.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Arnold Schwarzenegger is literally the epitome of the American Dream. Born in Austria just after World War 2, Schwarzenegger dreamt of going to the United States ever since he was a boy. He achieved this dream in 1968 when he came to the country aged 21 and barely speaking any English. He made his debut in the movie Hercules in New York, where his voice was dubbed. However, his performance in Conan the Barbarian was what made him a household name and there has been no looking back for the man who was once the Governor of California.
Bruce Willis: One of the biggest action stars of the late 80s and 90s, Bruce Willis, who was born in Germany to a German mother and an American father, moved to the United States when he was two years old. It’s a good thing too, given his performances in movies like Die Hard and Pulp Fiction.
Sofia Vergara: The Colombian actress, who became a household name after her breakout role in the television sitcom Modern Family, became an American citizen in 2014. A in-house joke in Modern Family also shows her character Gloria acing the citizenship examination.
Sundar Pichai: The Google and Alphabet CEO has been a United States citizen for many years now, although he is still connected to his Indian roots. On Tuesday in response to the US government’s decision, Pichai tweeted the following message
Indira Nooyi: The former PepsiCo CEO has been immigrated to the United States as a student in 1978 where she went to study management at Yale. Following her program, she joined Boston Consulting Group in 1980 and hasn’t looked back since.
Satya Nadella: The Microsoft CEO on Tuesday retweeted a tweet by Microsoft President Brad Smith that read: Now is not the time to cut our nation off from the world’s talent or create uncertainty and anxiety. Immigrants play a vital role at our company and support our country’s critical infrastructure. They are contributing to this country at a time when we need them most. Nadella, like Pichai, has been an American citizen for many years now
George Takei: The Japanese-American LGBTQ icon, who has become a Twitter celebrity after gaining worldwide recognition as Mr Sulu in the original Star Trek series, has shared a lot about his life in the United States. Talking of how he faced racism in the country after the Pearl Harbour bombing right up to his voice being one of the earliest for LGBTQ rights in the country, Takei has made a name for himself.
