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Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against criticism of President Donald Trump’s immigration reform as Indian officials and media raised concerns that U.S. visa and immigration reforms may curb migration from India.
“What I want to leave clear is that the changes, while they may be having a disproportionate impact on a place like India that provides so many high-skilled workers to the U.S. economy, it is not a system that is targeted at India,” Rubio said during a Sunday news conference in New Delhi, India. “It is one that’s being applied globally.”
India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar pushed back in his remarks.
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“I apprised Secretary Rubio of challenges that legitimate travelers face in respect of visa issuance,” Jaishankar 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.
Ultimately, Rubio – a son of Cuban immigrants – stressed that the U.S. values India as a “strategic ally” and vital trade partner, but immigration policy must be America First under Trump.
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“Everything that you do as a country needs to be in your national interest, and that includes your immigration policy,” Rubio continued. “The United States, I believe, is the most welcoming country in the world on immigration.”
“Every single year, a million people, roughly, become permanent residents of the United States and contribute greatly,” he said.
“Modernization” was the keynote to Rubio’s reply to concerns about the “contribution that Indians have made to the U.S. economy,” noting “over $20 billion have been invested in the U.S. economy by Indian companies.”
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“The changes that are happening now or the modernization of our migration system into the United States is not focused – it’s not India-specific; it is global,” Rubio stressed. “It’s being applied across the world.”
“We are in a period of modernization, and I’ll be frank and honest with you, because it’s important to talk about this: We’ve had a migratory crisis in the United States,” he said. “This is not because of India, but broadly, we had over 20 million people illegally enter the United States over the last few years, and we’ve had to address that challenge.”
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The reforms were “long overdue,” he added.
“It has to be a process that’s adjusted in every era to the realities of the modern times in which you live, and we are, and it’s long overdue,” Rubio added. “So the United States is currently undergoing a process of reforming the system by which we choose how many people come into our country, who comes in, when they come in, et cetera.”
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Rubio urged India to give the reform process time during the period of deepest adjustment.
“Anytime you undertake a reform, anytime you undertake a change in the system by which you admit people, or frankly, anytime you undertake a reform in any system – not just on immigration – there are going to be – there’s going to be a period of transition that’s going to create some friction points and some difficulties and so forth,” he said. “Ultimately, we think when this process is in place, once this process has been modernized – and that’s really what it is – we are modernizing the U.S. immigration system for the 21st century so that it is an immigration system that’s not just good for America but it’s also good for the people that are coming.”
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The U.S. and India will be stronger in the end, according to Rubio.
“We’re going to wind up with a system that’s more efficient and even better than the previous system, and in some ways may prove to be even more beneficial than the previous system was to people from India that seek to enter the United States to work and innovate,” he concluded. “But obviously, there’s going to be a period of adjustment along the way.
“We’re in a period of transition, and like any period of transition there’s going to be some bumps on that road. But 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,” Rubio said.
Rubio also addressed allegations of anti-India racism in America, urging India to not listen to the “stupid people.”
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“I’ll take that very seriously about the comments,” Rubio said. “Look, I’m sure that there are people that have made comments online and other places, because every country in the world has stupid people. I’m sure there are stupid people here.”
“There are stupid people in the United States that make dumb comments all the time. I don’t know what else to tell you other than the United States is a very welcoming country,” Rubio said. “Our nation has been enriched by people who come to our country, have come from our country from all over the world, have become Americans, have assimilated into our way of life, and have contributed greatly.”
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