Sushma ‘strongly raises’ H-1B visa issue with US counterpart
WASHINGTON: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj “strongly raised” the issue of H-1B visas for highly skilled professionals, facing scrutiny by the Trump administration, at her first bilateral meeting with her American counterpart Rex Tillerson on Friday.
Meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Swaraj also brought up with Tillerson the plight of the nearly 8,000 undocumented immigrants from India brought to the US as children who could be deported when an Obama-era regulation protecting them expires next March. The two officials, who had spoken on phone before and met for the first time during a trilateral meeting with their Japanese counterpart earlier this week, also discussed “regional issues, with a focus on Pakistan, Afghanistan and terrorism”, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Swaraj “strongly raised the issue of H1B visa and children falling under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) policy” with Tillerson, Kumar added in another tweet.
There was no indication of Tillerson’s response to Swaraj on the H-1B issue.
The state department readout of their meeting said they looked forward to convening the new “2 plus 2” meeting of the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries and the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
There was also no word from the US side to the plight of undocumented immigrants raised by Swaraj. This is part of a larger political, and extremely emotive, debate taking place in the US about the fate of nearly 800,000 people brought illegally to the country as children.
SWARAJ ALSO RAISED PLIGHT OF THE NEARLY 8,000 UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA BROUGHT TO THE US AS CHILDREN WHO COULD BE DEPORTED