Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Indra Nooyi and 24 more: Forbes list of '250 most successful immigrants' reveals just how much America needs Indians

Ever since the onset of the Trump administration 2.0, living in the United States of America for Indians has been a living nightmare. From policy decisions like hiking the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 and facing racial slurs and discrimination online and in person, the walls have been closing in one by one.

So much so, that the President of the United States himself recently called the country a "hellhole" in a racist Truth Social post. While Trump and his minions might proudly shout that America does not need India, research and surveys claim otherwise.

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Forbes released a list of the 250 greatest living immigrants in America. Among the 250 people featured on the list, 27 are Indian-origin individuals who have heavily contributed to America's economic and cultural growth.

The list includes individuals from diverse backgrounds, such as business leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, investors, philanthropists and media personalities who have played important roles in shaping modern America.

Indian immigrants in America

These Indian-origin leaders are:

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai
• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
• Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra
• Jay Chaudhry
• Vinod Khosla
• Naval Ravikant
• Abhijit Banerjee
• Padma Lakshmi
• Indra Nooyi
• Neerja Sethi
• Hemant Taneja
• Romesh T. Wadhwani
• Kavitark Ram Shriram
• Jyoti Bansal
• Neha Narkhede
• David Paul
• Jitendra Mohan
• Nikesh Arora
• Shyam Sankar
• Raj Sardana
• Aman Narang
• Arvind Krishna
• Shantanu Narayen
• K.R. Sridhar
• Premal Shah
• Rakesh Gangwal
• Rajiv Jain

From any sector that the USA leads, an Indian tycoon stands tall. Technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software, healthcare, finance and renewable energy.

Immigration in the USA

Not just Forbes, as per a report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), immigrants have founded or co-founded 455 of America's 775 privately held startups valued at $1 billion or more. Indian entrepreneurs have emerged as the largest immigrant group behind America's billion-dollar startup ecosystem, founding or co-founding 96 US unicorns. "The research indicates that more open immigration policies will produce more startup companies in America, including cutting-edge companies that transform industries and employ many Americans. On the other hand, immigration restrictions could threaten America's technological leadership and competitiveness," said Stuart Anderson, executive director of NFAP and author of the report.

The study also identified 15 immigrant entrepreneurs who have founded multiple billion-dollar companies in the US, including Mohit Aron, Jyoti Bansal, Ashutosh Garg, Ajeet Singh, Sachin Nayyar and more.

These studies and lists come at a time when immigration has been the centre of debate in the United States policies. H-1B visas, employment-based green cards, and pathways that have helped thousands of Indians build companies and careers in America have been blocked more or less completely.

No matter what Trump and far-right MAGA extremists would like to believe, America's growing sectors do need Indian brains to drive them forward or create them in the first place.