'There could be bumps': Rubio responds to India's concerns over Trump immigration changes

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday flagged India's concerns with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the Trump administration's changes to visa and immigration policies, saying legal mobility should not be adversely impacted by the new approach.

Rubio acknowledged that there could be "some bumps" and "friction points" in the period of transition as the US is trying to improve the immigration system, but ultimately an "efficient" framework will be helpful to every stakeholder.

Ahead of Rubio's arrival in India, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a directive requiring foreigners seeking a green card or permanent residency to return to their native countries to apply. The agency later moderated its stance, but the overall move is still likely to significantly impact a large segment of Indian professionals.

Jaishankar and Rubio addressed a press conference after the two leaders held wide-ranging talks that focused on resetting the ties that came under severe strain in the last one year largely due to Washington's policies on trade and tariff.

"People-to-people ties are at the heart of the (India-US) relationship. I apprised Secretary Rubio of challenges that legitimate travellers face in respect to visa issuance," the external affairs minister said.

"While we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility, our expectation is that legal mobility would not be adversely impacted as a consequence. After all, this is very relevant to our business, technology and research cooperation," he said.

The US's policy on H1B visas has impacted a large number of Indians. The new American policy on green card has also triggered some concerns as it requires the applicants to make their applications from their home countries.

Rubio, responding to a question on alleged cases of Indians facing racism in the US, appeared to reject the charges.

"I will take that very seriously about the comments. I'm sure that there are people who have made comments online and in other places because every country in the world has stupid people. I am sure there are stupid people here; there are stupid people in the United States who make dumb comments all the time," he said.

The US Secretary of State added: "Our nation has been enriched by people who have come to our country from all over the world, become Americans, assimilated into our way of life and contributed greatly." To a question on changes in the norms for green card, Rubio said it is part of the overall approach to reforming the existing system.

"We've had a migration crisis in the United States. This is not because of India, but broadly, we have had over 20 million people illegally enter the United States over the last few years, and we have had to address that challenge," he said.

"The US is the most welcoming country in the world on immigration," he said.

The Secretary of State said the current process to reform the existing system is not targeted at India at all.

"Anytime you undertake a reform, any time you undertake a change in the system by which you admit people, there's going to be a period of transition that's going to create some friction points and some difficulties," he said.

"It is not a system that is targeted at India; it is one that's being applied globally. But we're in a period of transition, and like any period of transition, there's going to be some bumps on that road." "We think ultimately our destination is going to be a better system, a more efficient system, one that works better than the one that we had in place previously and more sustainable by the way," he said.

To a separate question, Jaishankar said while the United States has been very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as "America first", India has an "India first" approach.

"So both of us are obviously driven by our respective national interests," he said.

Rubio's trip to India comes over five weeks after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri undertook a three-day visit to Washington DC that focused on stabilising the ties after a spell of uncertainty and strain.

The relations between the two countries witnessed a major downturn after Washington imposed punitive tariffs on India and President Donald Trump made controversial assertions regarding his role in de-escalating the India-Pakistan military clashes last May.

Over the next few months, the US president repeatedly and publicly claimed that he had resolved the military conflict between the two neighbours and saved millions of lives as it was going in the direction of a full-scale war.

New Delhi stoutly maintained that the cessation of the hostilities was a result of talks between India and Pakistan and the US involvement had nothing to do with it.

Washington's new immigration policy and its decision to increase the H1B visa fee also contributed to the slide in India-US ties.

However, both sides made efforts in the last few months to repair the ties.

The two sides have resolved to firm up a mutually beneficial trade deal soon.