LAUREN TAYLOR: India says it will work with President Donald Trump’s administration to take back 18,000 of its citizens who are in the U.S. illegally.
Bloomberg reports the Indian government is preparing to verify the people and begin the deportation process, although officials involved in the process say the number of Indian citizens in the U.S. illegally could be much higher.
India’s moves come as countries around the world prepare to work with President Trump and avoid becoming targets for tariffs and other actions the U.S. could take to weaken their trade.
A spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs said, “As part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration. This is being done to create more avenues for legal migration from India to the US.”
The move may also shape how the Trump administration acts on the future of H1-B visas, a contentious issue that has split some of the president’s closest allies.
Almost three-quarters of the nearly 400,000 people to receive H-1B visas in 2023 were Indian citizens.
For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.
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