polythene

Meet Eti Aggarwal, a Middle Tennessee resident who works as a senior software design engineer for the North American division of Schneider Electric. Eti Aggarwal moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 2015 through a dependent immigration status tied to her husband’s employer. She later applied and was accepted to Middle Tennessee State University in order to obtain a master’s degree in computer science. While in school, she legally transitioned from a dependent status to an F-1 student visa, which allowed her to pursue corporate field training. In 2016, Schneider Electric offered her an internship, a role that eventually converted into full-time employment and a subsequent corporate visa sponsorship. Since then, she has given birth to one son on American soil, which means he received birthright citizenship. As a senior software design engineer, Aggarwal is responsible for full-lifecycle coding, database management, and cloud integration. None of these responsibilities require rare technical skills. Millions of American software engineers possess the exact same skill set. In fact, her expertise centers on Microsoft systems that are among the most widely adopted entry software ecosystems in the U.S. The only unique value she brings to the role is experience, which she primarily gained at Schneider Electric. Although her total compensation package remains private, conservative estimates place her salary in the $180,000 range. This estimated figure does not include additional perks or benefits. By contrast, the average salary for a Tennessean with the same educational background ranges between $100,000 to $140,000. In 2016, when Aggarwal joined Schneider Electric, the unemployment rate for American citizens who had recently graduated from college with a computer science degree hovered in the 5% range. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates in 2026 with comparable degrees has risen to more than 7% nationally. A computer science degree was once widely viewed by American citizens as a golden ticket to immediate employment. That view has changed given the influx of foreign workers like Aggarwal in recent years. She represents a startling trend of foreign workers utilizing student visas to secure jobs in corporate America instead of returning to their homelands, all while unemployment has steadily risen for recent U.S. computer science graduates. Why should Americans care about whether Schneider Electric hires international students? Over the last decade, it has directly secured more than $7.65 million in Tennessee taxpayer funds. It also continuously benefits from lucrative statutory incentives, including reduced utility rates. It also benefits indirectly from taxpayers through partnerships with organizations like the Tennessee Titans. In March 2025, Schneider Electric finalized a five-year contract with the Titans as the official energy management partner for the new Nissan Stadium, scheduled to open in 2027. The $2.1 billion project is backed by one of the largest public sports subsidies in U.S. history. More than $1.25 billion is being funded publicly by Tennessee taxpayers. The case of Aggarwal is not just about one engineer's career path. Her career highlights a systemic flaw in how public resources are distributed. When Tennessee taxpayers pour millions of tax dollars into a corporation, they do so with the expectation that those investments will uplift the domestic workforce. By bypassing a growing pool of qualified, unemployed American graduates in favor of international pipelines, these corporations break that unwritten social contract. If corporate America expects taxpayers to bankroll growth, then American taxpayers have every right to demand that local workers are hired first.