This is arguably the most prosperous time in history to be an American. Alternatively it is a particularly precarious time to be a child of immigrant parents in America, especially if your parents came here legally. That’s right, I said “legally.”

“I wish I were an illegally arrived child instead of a legal one.” As a stand-alone statement those words are perplexing, but in present context it serves as the mantra of 200,000 Indian-American children who were brought here legally by their parents on H1-B or other work visas. Those children now face the real threat of self-deportation once they turn 21 years old due to the end of their H-4 dependent status and a seemingly endless backlog of green card dissemination. My community of Indian-Americans refers to this issue as DALCA, or Deferred Action for Legal Childhood Arrivals. The distinction from just plain DACA is that the sought-after pathway to citizenship only applies to children who were brought here illegally. The conspicuous absence of this status disparity from congressional discussions and in the media is a truly sad scenario that is leading to a brain drain in the United States. The DALCA voice is just not loud enough and it’s about time we turned the volume up.

I was lucky enough to have been born in this country in the early ’80s to parents who came here from India in the late ’60s on student visas and who subsequently got their American citizenship. Compared to Indian immigrants today, my family and I are generationally lucky. The young people who are losing their legal status are no different than my siblings and I were. DALCA kids have been raised on Dorito’s, PlayStation and Coke just like we were and now they’re being forced to leave -- which benefits “Silicon Vancouver” and beyond. Each high-skilled worker who is forced to move is a loss for the U.S. and our future as a competitive tech country. Nearly a dozen Indian families in my friend circle alone have shipped off to Vancouver.

Prior to the new millennium it would only take six months to get a green card. Now the wait is up to 60-70 years. Many H1-B holders will die before they get a green card. And they will continue to live a life of uncertainty and deep anxiety, afraid to go back to India to even attend the funeral of their parents for fear of being not allowed back even though they have a legal status.

June 25 has been set as a deadline by the House GOP to secure the legal status of Dreamers, at least for a few more years. I think that is a noble cause, which will put the minds of many a young Dreamer at ease. What this legislative deadline doesn’t do is placate any Indian-American children who entered this country legally and that is just wrong.

There has been zero debate of the DALCA issue in either the House or Senate and the only real mentions of it anywhere are in India-based periodicals since it affects Indian-Americans more than any other minority (70 percent of EB visas have been awarded to Indian-Americans in the past decade). Congress needs to address this problem and include the DALCA Dreamers in whatever compassionate fix they intend to bestow upon the DACA Dreamers. We cannot let this talent spill out of our country, which will in turn deter continued growth and prosperity. And, Congress must fix the root-cause of the DALCA problem: the 60-70-year backlog of high-skilled immigrants from India.

To me, this is an easy fix -- simply adjust the White House policy on DACA by including the word “legal” in its immigration framework. The current framework is below:

DACA LEGALIZATION: “Provide legal status for DACA recipients and other DACA-eligible illegal immigrants, adjusting the time-frame to encompass a total population of approximately 1.8 million individuals.

I commend Sen. Rand Paul for having the courage to call out Congress on its hypocrisy on this issue. I also urge President Trump to fix this for the betterment of the country so that we can continue our contributions of creating jobs and making this country greater for generations to come. As the Kentucky senator said:

“[W]hen H-1B visa holders from certain countries are forced to wait decades to receive a green card, the children of those H-1B holders can fall out of legal status and would not be covered by either DACA or the DREAM Act. Those children who came in legally through no fault of anyone will suddenly be faced with the choice of remaining illegally in the United States or leaving the only country they have even known as home ... a group that includes some of the most talented young students in America’s schools today.”

And here is former Speaker Newt Gingrich on the same subject: “As lawmakers work on this solution, they must keep in mind how senseless, unfair, and hypocritical it would be to provide a fix for DACA Dreamers – who came here illegally – and neglect to provide a solution for the DALCA Dreamers who have followed the rules and are being victimized by our backlogged, broken system.”