Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican challenger Ritesh Tandon — both Indian Americans — squared off on Wednesday evening in a roughly 50-minute online forum for California's 17th Congressional District, trading sharp disagreements on immigration enforcement, green card backlogs, and a proposed billionaire tax. The debate, streamed live on Tandon's campaign YouTube channel, comes ahead of the November 3 election.

The Immigration Fault Line

The sharpest divide of the night centred on immigration. Khanna opened with an unequivocal call: 'I would abolish ICE.' He described US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as 'a rogue agency' and said it should be replaced by something closer to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service — 'under the Justice Department, humane, focusing on going after sex traffickers, criminals.' He also called for 'finding pathways of green cards for people who are studying here and starting businesses here and creating companies here.'

Tandon, who immigrated to the United States from India at the age of 28, took a contrasting position rooted in personal experience. 'I followed all the rules and waited my turn,' he said, adding that more than 1.2 million people are currently stuck in the green card backlog. He accused Khanna of inaction: 'My opponent has been in the Congress for almost 10 years. And the line has only grown longer.'

Tandon's immigration agenda centred on eliminating the per-country cap on employment-based green cards — a long-running grievance for Indian professionals, who face the longest queues of any nationality — and recapturing unused green cards. He also backed stopping what he called 'H-1B visa abuse', supported voter ID requirements, and said illegal border crossing should be classified as a felony.

Billionaire Tax and the Silicon Valley Economy

On fiscal policy, Khanna defended a proposed 5 per cent levy on billionaires. 'The question is why is this economy only working for a few billionaires?' he said. 'We need a new social contract in America that privileges the working and middle class.'

Tandon pushed back, arguing the proposal 'taxes the paper wealth, not the income', and contended that companies and residents were already leaving California. Khanna countered that the AI industry's gravitational centre remained fixed: 'No one thinks the AI revolution is happening in Austin or Miami. It's happening in Silicon Valley.'

Accusations of a Far-Left Drift

Tandon accused Khanna of pulling the Democratic Party toward the ideological fringe. 'The Democratic socialist America are putting it on the far left, and I'm afraid it is taking the America down the road of Venezuela,' he said, citing Khanna's reported endorsement of a Democratic socialist candidate for Mayor of New York.

Khanna opened the debate by crediting his opponent for the format itself, saying he appreciated 'the civil way he has conducted himself in the past few years' and calling contested debate 'absolutely critical to democracy.' He closed with a unifying note: 'Ultimately, we're all Americans, and we have to come together.'

Fundraising Gap and Term-Limit Pledge

In his closing remarks, Tandon highlighted a significant fundraising disparity. 'I raised only $58,000 and you have $17 million in your account,' he told Khanna. Despite the gap, Tandon pledged to serve no more than three terms if elected and backed a ban on stock trading that would extend to family trusts — a proposal that has gained traction in Congress reform discussions.

Notably, Khanna won the June top-two primary with approximately 62 per cent of the vote against Tandon's roughly 15 per cent. With both candidates advancing to the general ballot, voters in California's 17th District — home to much of Silicon Valley — will cast their final verdict on 3 November.