Trump administration raises irregular migration in first engagement with India

New Delhi: President Donald Trump’s administration has expressed its concerns over illegal migration from India to the United States in the first formal engagement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

New Delhi responded, stating that it was opposed to illegal migration and open to the legitimate return of any migrant confirmed as a citizen of India.

A day after Trump returned to the White House as the 47th president of the US, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio had his first bilateral meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington DC on Tuesday. Rubio “emphasised the Trump Administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration”, Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson of the US State Department, said after the meeting.

“We are very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration,” Jaishankar told journalists at the Embassy of India in Washington DC on Wednesday. He was asked about New Delhi’s position on the Trump Administration’s concerns over illegal migration from India to the US.

“If there are any of our citizens who are not here legally, if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been open to their legitimate return to India,” said the external affairs minister.

Jaishankar added that he had also conveyed to his counterpart in the Trump Administration the concerns of India over the inordinate delays in the issuance of US visas. “Such delays impact business, tourism and the foundation of our relationship,” he said, referring to his discussion with Rubio.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a recent report revealed that while nearly 1.4 million illegal immigrants in America had been served final removal orders, about 17940 of them were citizens of India. It also noted that 2647 illegal immigrants from India were already in the detention centres.

During informal engagements with New Delhi before the inauguration of the 47th president of the US on Monday, the Trump Team nudged India to start taking back nearly 17940 illegal migrants put on the list for final removal, sources told DH.

Jaishankar, however, on Wednesday pointed out that New Delhi could allow an illegal immigrant to be sent back from the US to India only after verifying her or his nationality and confirming her or him as a citizen of India.

“The number is operative when we validate the individuals are Indian. We have to verify that they are indeed Indians,” the external affairs minister said, commenting on media reports that India had agreed to take back around 18000 illegal immigrants from the US.

The Pew Research Centre estimated that nearly 725,000 Indians had been illegally staying in the US in 2021 – the third such community of undocumented migrants after the Mexicans (4.1 million) and Salvadorans (800,000). As of 2021, the 10.5 million unauthorised immigrants in the United States represented about 3 per cent of the country’s total population.

The number of illegal immigrants from India encountered by the American authorities on the US borders grew from 8027 between September 2018 and October 2019 to 96917 during the corresponding period in 2022-23.

A total of 519 Indians were deported from America between November 2023 and October 2024 through commercial and chartered flights, the Ministry of External Affairs informed the Lok Sabha last month quoting from the US government data.

Trump, who campaigned for his re-election on a strong anti-immigrant narrative, issued many executive orders soon after his inauguration on Monday. One of his executive orders seeks to restrict birthright citizenship and it is likely to hit not only the illegal immigrants from around the world but also the students and professionals, who hail from India and other foreign countries and are legally staying in the US.

Rubio and Jaishankar “affirmed a shared commitment to continuing to strengthen the partnership between the US and India”, the spokesperson of the American State Department said. “They discussed a wide range of topics, including regional issues and opportunities to further deepen the US-India relationship, in particular on critical and emerging technologies, defence cooperation, energy, and on advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

“Delighted to meet @secrubio for his first bilateral meeting after assumption of office as Secretary of State. Reviewed our extensive bilateral partnership, of which @secrubio has been a strong advocate,” Jaishankar posted on X. “Also exchanged views on a wide range of regional and global issues. Look forward to closely working with him to advance our strategic cooperation,” he added.

Jaishankar also had a meeting with Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Waltz on Wednesday. He had also met Waltz during his visit to Washington DC last month for early engagement with the Trump Team.

“Discussed strengthening our friendship to ensure mutual benefit and enhance global stability and prosperity. Looking forward to working together on an active and outcome-oriented agenda,” he posted on X after his meeting with the new US NSA.