'I envision a country like my dad came into': What Indian-origin Saikat Chakrabarti said on H-1B

Indian-origin Saikat Charabarti who announced his run in the 2026 Democratic primary for California's 11th Congressional District, has recently expressed his opinion in favor of the H-1B visa program. He said he thinks the US should have more H-1B visas as he envisions the country as the one that his father came into. "My position on H-1B visas is that I think we should have more immigration. I kind of envision trying to create a country like the one my dad came into where we are recruiting people that come, you know? Where it doesn't look as if we're in zero-sum game when it comes to immigration," the Democrat leader who worked for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders said.

But he pitched for reforms in the program to push the wages. "As I mentioned at the event, America in the 1970s actually had immigration offices around the world RECRUITING people to come to this country. We were such a place of growth, optimism and opportunity that we were actually begging immigrants to come help build this country. We had just put a man on the moon, built the interstate highway system, and had decades of wages and quality of life going back up," he posted on X later.

Thanks for recording my answer, including the part where I mention some reforms to H1B to push wages up would be great.

As I mentioned at the event, America in the 1970s actually had immigration offices around the world RECRUITING people to come to this country. We were such a… https://t.co/sQrspQLSDB

— Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc) May 2, 2025

"I believe we can create that country again and not be a shrinking pie. I want us to be a country that is hopeful and growing, rather than trying to figure out who to kick out."

"I fundamentally disagree with anyone who believes America is stuck where it's at now, and we must have a zero-sum mindset moving forward. If we accept that, we are accepting our decline," he said.

Though Chakrabarti was born in Texas, his father came to the US from India. In his campaigning, Chakrabarti made it a point to tell how his family learned that they could come to the US. America was where dreams came true. "My father came from poverty in India, often going days without food. But in America, he got the chance to build a stable, middle-class life for us and lift our family in India up from poverty as well — on just one salary. I believe America can be a country that rises above its divisions to create a society where everyone is excited for the future--their own future, their children's future, and the future of the entire country," he wrote.