CHICAGO — Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in downtown Chicago Thursday afternoon to voice concerns over a landmark immigration bill.

More than a hundred people with the Illinois Immigration Forum, many from India, held a "Walk for Equality" in support of the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which would remove country caps to allow immigrants to receive green cards on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Current law says no country can receive more than 7 percent of the total green cards issued in a year. That means for much larger countries, such as India and China, the backlog of applications is much greater than for smaller countries, where it's faster to get a green card.

At current rates of visa issuances, Indian workers with advanced degrees (called the "EB-2" category) will have to wait 151 years for a green card, according to libertarian think tank Cato Institute.

While some demonstrators believed the new bill would bring justice to people waiting in disproportionately long lines for a green card,others have called it a "monopolization" of immigration that discriminates against people from smaller countries. Opponents also say the bill overwhelmingly benefits Big Tech, which hires many Indian nationals.

"Tech companies’ short-term profit is not more important than the future of high-skilled immigrants," Support Alliance of US Immigrants said in a Facebook event for the demonstration. "Let’s find a rational solution to backlog problem, a solution that helps All of US, not just a few."

The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act passed the House in July. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced the bill in the Senate, but Sen. Dick Durbin stalled the bill at the end of September, expressing concerns about its current form.

Proponents of the bill on Thursday held signs saying "Senator Durbin help our children" and "Separate is not equal."

A smaller group of demonstrators with Support Alliance of US Immigrants stood opposite the larger group to protest the bill, which they said would discriminate against people of non-Indian origins.

"Imagine you are from a small country and want to come to the United States, and then you have to compete with guys from large countries. For example, Albania has three million in population. India has more than a billion, so nobody can compete with them," said demonstrator Ali Sharghi. "It is about opportunity."

Sharghi, 34, came to the U.S. from Iran as a Ph.D. candidate on a student visa. He graduated three years ago and works in Chicago as a consultant. Sharghi said he received a work visa this year, and his company started his application for a green card five months ago.

Illinois resident Venkatramreddy Ravi, 33, came to U.S. from India ten years ago. He joined the demonstrators in support of the bill.

"We came here to plead with Sen. Durbin," Ravi said. "We are suffering here."

One demonstrator, Aditya Bharadwaj, 31, a mobile application developer, flew out from Boston for the "Walk for Equality."

"We are not against diversity. We are not against asylum. We want whoever comes first, take them," said Rath Arjula, 41, an IT professional living in Illinois.

Arjula expressed frustration with the politicization of green cards.

"Our lives are a ping-pong game," Arjula said.

Sharghi and Ravi both agreed that the green card application process needed to be improved.