Mcb777 Affiliate 'It was time to grieve for my husband, but I was doing paperwork'

Six years ago, on February 22, the world came crashing down around Sunayana Dumala when her husband Srinivas Kuchibhotla became the victim of a hate crime. He was killed at a neighbourhood bar in Olathe, Kansas, where he had gone with a friend for a drink. Not only had she lost her husband, Dumala was also out of immigration status because her work-permit visa had been linked to that of Kuchibhotla. Not to be cowed down, the feisty engineer has not just claimed her life in the US back but she has also become an advocate for fixing the US immigration system that is unfair towards thousands of Indian professionals waiting for green cards. She has recently moved to Florida and has set up a foundation that works towards fostering inclusion and diversity in America. She spoke to TOI+ in an hour-long exclusive interview. Edited excerpts.Despite the immense pain and loss that you faced, you have now moved on. How did you find the courage and purpose?Anybody who goes through a tragedy has no choice but to come out strong. And I was fortunate to have a very supportive family. Also, the entire community came out to support me and that gave me courage. My initial reaction to my husband’s death was ‘Why should I continue to live in this country?’ But when I got to know the motive behind the crime and was able to process that it was a premeditated hate crime, I could not let that man win. medium98122739The political rhetoric around the elections at that time, that was behind the racial hatred and discrimination against our community, had a deep impact on me. After the initial phase of pain and disbelief, I felt that I couldn’t leave America and let hate win.Besides, I also felt that I had to give back to my husband who had taught me so much. How do I keep his legacy alive – that was the driving force that helped me to continue and move forward.What kind of support did you receive from your family and friends?It is a long list of people to thank and without mentioning them this story would be incomplete. Especially my family – sisters Usha Rani and Karuna, and parents Balakrishna and Varalakshmi Dumala – who helped me stand up again and start to rebuild the broken pieces. I received support from the community in Kansas including my friends and neighbours; the management of Garmin, the company that my husband was employed with and Intouch, where I worked, supported and helped me make up my mind that I was doing the right thing in returning to the US. Faruk [Capan], the CEO of Intouch [which is now Eversana Intouch], understood my situation and provided me with a support system which was much stronger than what I had even asked for. The company assured me that they were processing my visa to bring me back to the US and kept me employed. They did not hire anyone in my position for several months. They did this for an employee who had been with the organisation for just a few months. Garmin provided lawyers to guide and advise me about the immigration procedure that had to be followed. medium98122929I would also like to shout out to Susan Bond, who was Intouch’s immigration attorney and worked on my case. She left no stone unturned and went above and beyond with my case.I received support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation after my husband’s death was declared a federal hate crime and I got a humanitarian parole to go back to the US. I had tremendous support from the US Congress representatives from Kansas as well in securing immigration status.You have become an advocate for US immigration reforms. Please share some details about your immigration advocacy.One must be in the shoes of a victim to understand the struggles that they face. As the spouse of a victim of a hate crime, I felt that I needed to have the option to stay in the US and not be forced to leave because of my visa status. It was the worst time of my life and I needed the lifeline of hope. When I should have been grieving for my husband, I was doing paperwork and talking to lawyers about how I could return to America. I felt that I should share my story about how a broken immigration system hurt me and I got involved with Immigration Voice, an organisation advocating the ending of the per country green card [permanent residency] cap for employment-based visas in the US. The system, which leads to discrimination against those employed in the US based on their country of birth, needs to be fixed. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in e.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r In my journey of advocacy, I have shared my story of being a victim of both a racist crime and a broken immigration system several times with members of the US House of Representatives and Senators. At the State of Union Address in 2017, when I had gone to Washington DC, I had spoken to several Congress members to highlight this critical issue and the need to reform the outdated immigration policies.You have now moved from Olathe, Kansas, where you lived with your husband, to Orlando, Florida, and launched your own organisation Forever Welcome. Are you trying to make a new beginning?It is now six years since my husband’s death and I did want a change for some time. In fact, the Covid pandemic played a major part in my decision to move on. I had been busy with my work and travelling a lot but with the pandemic everything shut down.The house where my husband and I lived was filled with memories; and I struggled with loneliness. But I’m also thankful to have got an opportunity for self-reflection and started with therapy. I visited my close friends and it was during discussions with them that the idea that it was time for me to move on and start afresh was born.But because of my immigration status, I did not have the freedom to quit my job. When I finally got my green card in August 2021, things seemed to open for me. I travelled to Orlando and decided to move there; though I stayed in Olathe and with Intouch till the end of the year because I wanted to give back to my team and the company. Since the beginning of 2022, I have been on a career-transition break. medium98123404You have set up a foundation – what are its goals?Forever Welcome is my answer to the question, ‘Do we belong here?’ The foundation is working towards fostering inclusion and diversity in the US through education and understanding. I have been a data-integration engineer and had no idea or experience about how to set up a foundation and run it. I am now focussing on picking up the ropes of my new profession and my passion. Forever Welcome Foundation is hosting the world premiere of the documentary film Alien, directed by Vidyut Latay on March 9 [marking Kuchibhotla’s 39th birthday]. The film focuses on the stories of those stuck in green card backlogs.Over these past six years, you have been advocating on immigration rights, especially for Indians. How did it start?I felt that I needed to work towards removing the misconception that foreign nationals were taking away jobs from Americans. The CEO of Intouch Faruk Capan initially helped me with this and brought it up at the company’s quarterly townhall after I had sent him an email expressing the wish to work towards change. The company then became like my family and the platform that I got to educate people and tell the stories of immigrants became much bigger than I had expected. Several colleagues volunteered and we started a Facebook page to raise awareness on immigrants and their contributions to America. The foundation that I have now formed is the next step. medium98122785What are some of the positive memories of your life with your husband which you carry with you in your journey ahead?Our story, which started in 2006, was a very filmy one. Srinu was a student of engineering at the University of Texas and I was in Hyderabad when I was introduced to him on an online platform by a friend’s brother because I was also planning to go to the US for a master’s degree. We professed our love just a few months after our first introduction and dated for six years in the US before getting married. He supported me through my journey of getting my US visa and admission to the University of St Louis, from where I later transferred to St Cloud State University in Minnesota. We were married in 2012. My husband who had got a job in Iowa moved to Kansas because it was a bigger city and would have more opportunities for me. I didn’t have a job for the first four years because I was on an H-4 spouse visa; but my husband was always by my side and when I started the job hunt after a career gap, he was more invested in my success than I myself could be. I could never imagine that a day would come for me when I would have to face life without him. For me, moving on now means keeping my husband alive not just as a statistic in a hate-crime data base but as the loved and respected person that he was.