a permanent resident immigrant is definitely an American. it's important to distinguish between temporary guest workers and Americans who were born somewhere else.
It's worth calling out that a lot of "temporary guest workers" in SV are Indian and Chinese nationals who are "in line" to get permanent residence. It just happens that the line for India and China is really long: on the order of 9 years for Indian or Chinese masters degree holders (degrees from American unis), compared to less than 2 years for someone from another country.