Donald Trump recently appointed Sriram Krishnan to the role of AI advisor. Krishnan came to the United States from India in 2007 and became a U.S. citizen in 2016. Indian technology officials initially praised his appointment, but became concerned about MAGA criticism.
Anuj Christian’s green card was approved in 2019, 10 years after he first came to the United States as a graduate student from India. Since then, he has been waiting to receive it, one of the thousands trapped in the long detention process created by America’s Byzantine immigration system.
Earlier this month, Christian felt hopeful for the first time in years. Just before Christmas, Donald Trump announced that Sriram Krishnan, a first-generation Indian American, would become the White House’s senior policy adviser for AI. Mr. Krishnan will work closely with Mr. Trump’s new “crypto czar” David Sachs, an early investor in Facebook, SpaceX, Uber, and Palantir.
For Christian, Mr. Krishnan’s appointment felt personal. “Sriram has had personal experience with the immigration system,” said Christian, who runs an immigration reform organization called FAIR. “We now have someone close to the president who has personally experienced this issue. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
From Chennai to Silicon Valley
Mr. Krishnan arrived in the United States from Chennai, India in 2007 and began a six-year stint at Microsoft. From there, he rose through the Silicon Valley ranks to senior positions at Yahoo, Snap, Facebook, and Twitter. In 2020, he moved into venture capital and became a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Along the way, Krishnan became a U.S. citizen in 2016, a milestone that many legal immigrants from India have avoided. A backlog of green cards, a byproduct of employment-based per-country caps on U.S. permanent residency, leaves thousands of skilled workers from India in limbo. The wait time can exceed a lifetime.
Mr. Krishnan’s appointment has unique resonance for those affected by the system. He has been outspoken about America’s challenges navigating immigration and has advocated for raising the cap on green cards for each country. These calls for reform are a recurring theme on The Aarthi and Sriram Show, a podcast he co-hosts with his wife, a technology entrepreneur, Aarthi Ramamurthy.
MAGA backlash
But Krishnan’s visibility and advocacy turned him into a lightning rod for MAGA believers. In the days since Trump’s announcement, the engineer has faced hate speech and racism directed not only at Trump, but also toward Indians and legal immigrants in general. Mr. Krishnan declined to comment.
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The backlash began with a tweet from far-right activist Laura Loomer, who called his appointment “deeply disturbing” and contrary to Trump’s “America First” policies.
Loomer accused Krishnan of advocating “removing all restrictions on green card caps” and allowing foreign workers to take jobs from U.S. STEM graduates. He pointed out that Silicon Valley’s dependence on international talent is a threat to domestic innovation. Former Congressman Matt Gaetz, President Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, accused his “tech bros” of orchestrating “immigration policy.”
Discussion on H-1B visas
Rahul Menon, an Indian-born engineer from Rhode Island and host of the immigration podcast Area51, said the hate speech directed at Krishnan reflected widespread misconceptions about skilled immigrants in the United States. I think there are.
“They just think we’re here to steal everyone’s jobs,” Menon told Business Insider. “If people understand the process of going through H-1B and the number of hoops they have to jump through, it’s insane. The hate Sriram is getting is just the beginning. You just need a thick skin.”
Some of the disdain has been directed at H-1B, a common visa used by Silicon Valley companies and technology outsourcing companies to hire foreign workers in the United States. This particular system also receives a large number of applications each year for a limited number of slots. Earlier this year, Bloomberg News exposed a scheme known as “multiple enrollment” that manipulated the H-1B program and prevented purportedly legitimate workers from accessing skilled worker visa-based opportunities.
recent optimism
Menon noted that optimism about addressing the green card backlog is steadily increasing, driven by statements from celebrities. In June, during an appearance on the All In Podcast hosted by VCs including Sachs, President Trump expressed support for granting green cards to all U.S. college graduates. President Trump also recently expressed support for H-1B visas.
Menon sees Krishnan’s appointment as the latest in a series of moves to boost the morale of immigration reform advocates in the United States.
Menon mentioned Vivek Ramaswamy, another Trump adviser whose parents immigrated from the Indian state of Kerala, and said, “It started with President Trump’s remarks, then Vivek, and now Sriram, and this is the number one thing.” It’s a highlight,” he said. Ramaswamy has repeatedly called for replacing the H-1B lottery systemIt is a merit-based selection process.
“AI stands for artificial intelligence, not American Indians.”
Some remain skeptical about Mr. Krishnan’s ability to influence immigration policy in his new role.
Sachs directly addressed this speculation in a tweet, saying, “Sriram has been a US citizen for 10 years. He is not ‘running America.'” He advises on AI policy but has no influence on U.S. immigration policy. ” The post appears to be aimed at quelling criticism from MAGA supporters and hopes among some Indian immigrants that Mr. Krishnan’s appointment will bring about immediate change.
Ashish Arora, a partner at venture capital firm Local Globe and a friend of Krishnan and his wife Ramamurthy, cautioned against reading too much into Krishnan’s role on immigration reform.
“Sriram was hired for AI. AI stands for artificial intelligence, not American Indian,” she told Business Insider. “I don’t know if Sriram will have a say in immigration, but the optimism that legal immigration will be fixed is misguided in my opinion.”
After all, Krishnan is an AI policy advisor, Area51’s Menon said. “I hope things change, but let’s not count the chickens before they hatch.”
