TOI correspondent from Washington: A resurfaced video of an Indian-American immigration attorney unleashing a profanity-laced attack on President Donald Trump at an Indian IT lobbying group conference has ignited a furious MAGA backlash, intensifying scrutiny of the H-1B visa system and prompting entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to drop out of the group’s 2025 conference in Puerto Rico this past weekend.
What began as a routine motivational address to immigrant tech workers has now snowballed one of the most intense political controversies the $500-billion IT consulting sector has faced in years. The video, recorded at an undated ITServe Seattle chapter meeting but posted online only in November, shows Sheela Murthy, a prominent immigration lawyer, telling delegates to kick Donald Trump’s ass, while mocking his marriages to immigrant spouses and asserting “the president is not God.” A second clip shows Murthy riffing on the word “fraud,” discussing how companies should respond to federal audits.
MAGA activists seized on the clips as evidence of systemic abuse inside the visa system, calling the lobbying group ITServe a “foreign lobbying cartel writing H-1B policy” and tagging Vice President J.D. Vance and FBI Director Kash Patel. Influencer Waqas Khan labeled Murthy the “ringleader of the H-1B crime syndicate,” while other accounts warned that Murthy’s comments amounted to threats against a sitting president.
But immigration advocates and industry figures maintained that the backlash cherry-picked stray inflammatory lines from a conference several years ago, asserting that the full speech shows Murthy urging confidence, unity, and civic participation — not literal violence. The clips, they say, were weaponized in a climate where H-1B visas are a political lightning rod, with some ITServ insiders noting that fake MAGA-aligned accounts—some linked to Pakistan—amplified the controversy, further inflaming tensions.
Murthy’s firm has filed more than 10,000 H-1B and PERM cases since 2020, giving her rare visibility among foreign-born IT workers anxious about Trump’s second-term push to raise H-1B fees by $100,000 and expand social-media vetting. Murthy herself has won laurels in Maryland, a Democrat-run state, for her community work and contributions to society.
Facing mounting outrage, ITServe Alliance released a statement on December 3, distancing itself from Murthy and asserting support for the administration’s immigration priorities.
"Our organization and leadership are committed to working with President Trump and his administration on common-sense immigration reforms... ITServe Alliance wants to be clear that we stand with President Trump and his administration in stopping illegal immigration and reforming the system with merit-based solutions,” the group declared—an extraordinary move for an organization that typically avoids partisan alignment.
The escalating controversy also forced Republican candidate for Ohio Governor Vivek Ramaswamy to withdraw from delivering a keynote at Synergy 2025, ITServe’s flagship conference in Puerto Rico on December 4–5.
Founded in 2010 by Indian American entrepreneurs, mostly from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, ITServe has grown into the nation’s largest association of IT services and staffing firms, representing more than 2,200 member companies. The group advocates for predictable H-1B rules, expansion of STEM talent pathways, streamlined audits and business-friendly immigration reforms.
But critics, including MAGA-aligned activists and U.S. labor groups, accuse ITServe of functioning as a pressure bloc for outsourcing firms. They cite over 30 lawsuits the group has filed to loosen H-1B regulations. Supporters counter that ITServe adheres to federal rules and contributes to U.S. innovation, scholarships, and job growth.
With Trump’s administration intensifying enforcement, pursuing FARA investigations, and pushing Senate Republicans to advance bills which tightens work visa rules, Indian-origin tech workers—who receive 70% of all H-1B visas—are feeling acute pressure. For ITServe, the fallout threatens political relationships during a pivotal regulatory year. As one long-time member put it: “We drive on the highway like everyone else—some may speed, but that doesn’t make the entire system illegal. ITServe isn’t anti-American. We’re part of America’s tech backbone.”
Rajghatta is author of Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman