A new lawsuit claims that Indian-origin employers in the United States used the federal H-1B visa program to exploit and cheat the Indian-origin white-collar employees who are working to win the golden prize of citizenship that is dangled by the U.S. federal government.

“Forced labor, labor trafficking, and withholding visa documents are crimes,” says the lawsuit filed by H-1B worker Amrutesh Vallabhaneni against his employer, Siri Software Solutions, and its owner, Pavan Tata. The lawsuit adds:

Nevertheless, it appears they are Defendant Siri Software Solutions, LLC’s business model … These reprehensible actions constitute forced labor and labor trafficking [via the H-1B visa program] … Plaintiff demands a jury trial to recover all damages and reasonable attorney’s fees.

For the Indian workers, “this is a Squid Game … where the ultimate goal is to stay in America,” said Jay Palmer, a consultant who helped prepare the lawsuit, told Breitbart News.

“It’s a very, very exploitative culture” because the Indian CEO’s import their home-country caste-discrimination politics to their workplaces in the United States, said Palmer, an expert on labor trafficking who has exposed many crimes and scandals.

Congress created the H-1B program in 1990, and it allowed some foreigners to climb up a legal ladder into the United States. While climbing that ladder, they can enjoy well-paid professional jobs, residency in pleasant, pollution-free towns and eventually, the golden prize of citizenship for the migrants and all their descendants. There are several ladder programs, including the L-1 and J-1 visas, which collectively keep at least 2.5 million foreign graduates in indentured service for up to 20 years.

But Congress also gave total power over each migrant to their employers. This means employers have a rational incentive to hire foreign workers who accept kickbacks, payroll deductions, and extra hours, and who will accept caste-like workplace submission and professional silence, as unwritten payments for every step on their climb to U.S. citizenship.

The Vallabhaneni Lawsuit

Indians comprise the vast majority of H-1B visa workers, largely because Indian CEOs prefer to hire people who will accept their management practices, often including acceptance of India’s caste hierarchy.

Many others are hired by India-origin hiring managers in established companies, such as Google, Meta, Tesla, Delta Airlines, Molina Healthcare, Fannie Mae, Citigroup, USAA insurance, and Intel. Many get starter jobs in Indian-run staffing companies and fight their way into brand-name Fortune 500 companies, such as FedEx.

Vallabhaneni followed a common migration path via the software subcontractors and sweatshops hidden underneath the Fortune 500 companies. This path has been followed by at least one million other Indians, even as many other smarter or better-connected migrants get hired directly at major banks, universities, and technology companies.

He first got a degree in India, and then got an F-1 student visa– and a loan — to attend a U.S. college in 2015. He quickly graduated and picked up a three-year work permit via the huge Optional Practical Training program for foreign graduates. For his next step, he agreed to work at a New Jersey company called E-Content, which was not required to pay him much of a salary. The pay and conditions of that stint are not described in the lawsuit, which says he moved to SiriSoft in 2018.

He moved to SiriSoft as it promised to push