Who deserves a place in the land of the free , a shot at living out the American Dream to make it in life regardless of your background, as long as you put in the work? Versions of this question have been raised since the uniquely consequential election in Nov
Who deserves a place in the “land of the free”, a shot at living out the “American Dream” — to make it in life regardless of your background, as long as you put in the work? Versions of this question have been raised since the uniquely consequential election in November 2024.
The dominant political ideology today argues that to immigrate to the United States, only the best and the brightest should be considered. During Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, Mexicans were seen as a monolith representing low-skill labour and thus disqualified from a chance at this privilege. In 2026, the clamour from Trump supporters has grown to target the supposed crème de la crème — white-collar workers on H-1B visas for “specialty occupations.”
Foreign workers are seen as undercutting American ones by accepting lower pay and poorer work conditions. Or, they are viewed with suspicion simply based on a racist worldview.
And yet, this category of workers (often Indians associated with science and technology) found powerful defenders in US tech companies, politicians and others who described them as meritorious workers filling a supply gap. Wild Wild East by former H-1B worker-turned-journalist Tanul Thakur challenges these perceptions and more, beginning to end — from how Indian tech workers reach the US to what life really looks like for many of them.
Conceptually, H-1B evokes an image of a Silicon Valley giant offering a job to a skilled candidate, sponsoring their visa and bringing them to the country on a six-figure salary. The book shines a light on a not-so-small share of workers whose journey involves layers of middlemen helping US companies recruit workers of lower calibre, with no fancy degrees or the bare minimum required of them.
These “desi consultancies” or “body shops” take a cut of the candidates’ pay in exchange for bringing them to the US, sometimes for the entire duration of their working career. Their degrees, resumes, work experience and even job interviews can be faked. For the candidates, the depth of the shady systems at play often doesn’t fully reveal itself until they are deep in the trenches. By then, they have already paid large sums to get overseas. Left with limited options, many agree to a reduced pay and continue being moved from project to project, company to company.
While between projects, they may have to live in the consultancies’ “guesthouses” with multiple roommates and no guarantees of the next job. The precarity running through these stories — usually associated with blue-collar workers in West Asia — feels unbelievable, especially for this part of the first world.
How exactly does this happen? Who benefits from it? Why is so little known about it? Thakur joins the dots through stories of three men — two Indian H-1B hopefuls who slowly discover the systems at play, and an American tech worker who steadily loses out on work and dives into this world to understand the root causes. All of them cycle through hope and dejection, with little in the name of redemption.
Thakur highlights data that makes one wonder why such an obvious link has not been examined before. Perhaps, as he points out, it has to do with the tone of the current debate, where any criticism of the H-1B programme is seen as racist when coming from Americans, and anti-national when coming from Indians.
Various data points raise red flags. For instance, he cites a study that asks if H-1Bs represent some of the most highly skilled workers; why have their salaries been flat for many years? He also cited the example of Infosys settling a US investigation into alleged visa fraud for $34 million in 2013, without admitting to further widespread wrongdoing.
Thakur argues that these are not anomalies; the systems are working exactly as they were designed to. He stresses avoiding easy generalisations — that Indians are only caught in the crosshairs of a larger anti-immigration sentiment, that there is a persistent dearth of US graduates in technical fields, or that such programmes always benefit the native population. He attaches 125 pages of notes at the end to supplement his arguments.
The writing mimics the free-flowing conversational style of its protagonists. Some of the technical terms associated with engineering and tech jobs also distract from the larger story at times.
The book is a must-read for anyone interested in the current H-1B debate for the way it pokes holes into existing assumptions. Through years-long meticulous research, Thakur pieces together a complex puzzle. This includes the caste and regional profile of the Indians who qualify for H-1B through unscrupulous means, the role of media and universities in amplifying pro-H-1B voices, and why, at the end of it all, workers — both American and foreign — emerge as the biggest losers.