Usha Vance, please speak up: Indians are not ‘indentured servants’

Vice President JD Vance has a legitimate argument to make about the H-1B visa program. But the messaging is off.

American workers deserve protection from employers who use immigration to suppress wages, circumvent fair hiring practices and replace domestic employees with cheaper labor. But when Vance describes H-1B workers as “indentured servants,” he crosses a line between criticizing a policy and demeaning the people who participate in it.

His wife, Usha Vance, has an opportunity to remind him, and the country, that Indian professionals are not a class of people whose contributions can be dismissed through such careless language. 

Mrs. Vance is an accomplished attorney who has built her own professional career. Her Indian heritage is part of her personal story, just as her husband’s public statements are part of the national immigration debate. Her parents immigrated to this country seeking opportunity just as mine did.

For Indians, the phrase indentured servant is not an ordinary political insult. During British colonial rule, millions of Indians were transported to plantations and other destinations under indenture agreements. Many endured harsh conditions, restricted freedom and systematic exploitation.

Although indenture was not identical to slavery, it was a coercive labor system whose legacy continues to shape the history of the Indian diaspora. To apply that terminology indiscriminately to Indian professionals who come to America to work, innovate and build their futures trivializes that history. Calling Indians indentured servants is highly offensive. 

The H-1B program, despite its shortcomings, is not a system of indenture. It is a temporary employment-based visa program designed to enable American employers to recruit foreign professionals for specialized........

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