Amid a massive crackdown on illegal immigration, President Donald Trump has expressed confidence that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “will do what’s right” when it came to taking back Indian living in the U.S. illegally.
Trump made the remarks after receiving a phone call from Modi, their first conversation since Trump’s January 20 inauguration, amid reports that India and the U.S. had identified around 18,000 Indians who are in the country illegally.
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However, official readouts of the call by both sides made no mention of illegal immigrants with Modi in a post on X saying, “We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership.”
Modi also congratulated his “dear friend” on his historic second term in office and said, “We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security,” Modi said.
The White House readout of “a productive call” with Modi said, “The two leaders discussed expanding and deepening cooperation. They also discussed a range of regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe.”
“The President emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” it said. “The leaders discussed plans for Prime Minister Modi to visit the White House, underscoring the strength of the friendship and strategic ties between our nations.
“Both leaders emphasized their commitment to advance the U.S.-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad Leaders for the first time later this year,” the readout added.
Indian and U.S diplomats are trying to arrange a meeting of the two leaders as early as February, according to a media report.
The United States is India’s largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion. India is keen to enhance trade relations with the U.S. and make it easier for its citizens to get skilled worker visas.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and emphasised a desire to “address concerns related to irregular migration”.
Jaishankar also said that India has always been open to the legitimate return of undocumented Indians to the U.S. He, however, said that New Delhi was still in the process of verifying those from the U.S. who can be deported to India, and that the number of such individuals couldn’t be determined yet.
“As a government, we are obviously very much supportive of legal mobility because we do believe in a global workplace. We want Indian talent and Indian skills to have the maximum opportunity at the global level. At the same time, we are also very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration,” Jaishankar told Indian reporters in Washington D.C.
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“Because you also know that when something illegal happens, many other illegal activities get joined onto it, which is not desirable. It is certainly not good reputationally,” he added. “So, with every country, and the US is no exception, we have always maintained that if any of our citizens are there illegally, and if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been open to their legitimate return to India.”
“If it takes 400-odd days of waiting period to get a visa, I don’t think the relationship is well served by this. He (Rubio) also noted that point,” Jaishankar said.