WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will do “what is right” on illegal immigrants, underlining that discussions are going on with India. President Trump made these remarks on Monday while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to Joint Base Andrews from Florida. He also mentioned that Prime Minister Modi is likely to visit the White House in February.
Separately, in a readout of a phone call between both leaders, the White House said that Trump had a “productive” phone call with Modi and sought a move towards a “fair” bilateral trading relationship and deeper India-US cooperation. While talking to House Republicans at a Florida retreat on Monday, President Trump said that the US would impose tariffs on the countries that “harm” America as he named China, India and Brazil as high-tariff countries.
“We’re going to put tariffs on outside countries and outside people that really mean harm to us… Look at what others do. China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India and Brazil and so many other countries. So we’re not going to let that happen any longer because we’re going to put America first,” he said.
Meanwhile, during their phone call, the two leaders also discussed plans for Modi to visit the US, the White House said in the readout. While talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked “Did he (Modi) agree to take illegal immigrants.” “He (Modi) will do what’s right. We are discussing,” said the president.
“I had a long talk with him this morning (Monday). He is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February. We have a very good relationship with India,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. The president was responding to a question on the phone call he had with Modi on Monday.
“Everything came up (in a phone call with Modi),” Trump told reporters when asked about the details of his call with the Prime Minister. The prime minister’s trip to the US, the first under Trump 2.0 was finalised during the call. Trump’s last foreign trip as president was to India during his first term.
Trump and Modi enjoy a good friendly relationship. The two addressed thousands of people at two different rallies in Houston in September 2019 and in Ahmedabad in February 2020. Modi was among the top three world leaders to speak with Trump after his stunning electoral victory in November 2024.
In a readout of the call, the White House said the two Trump sought India to increase in US-made security equipment and move towards a fair bilateral trading relationship.
“Today, President Donald J Trump held a productive call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. 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,” it said. “The President emphasised the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” the White House 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,” it added. Both Modi and Trump emphasised their commitment to advance the “US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad Leaders for the first time later this year.” The US, India, Japan and Australia compose the Quad, a four-way grouping. They have been stepping up cooperation in various fields such as defence and energy, amid China’s increasing military and economic clout in the region.
Like in many countries, there have been some concerns in India as well over the Trump administration’s approach to immigration and tariffs. Trump has already talked about slapping “100 per cent tariffs” on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India as well. Speaking during a weekly press briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal referred to India’s ongoing dialogue with the US on matters related to trade and immigration and expressed hope that both sides will be able to address any issue.
Trade occupies a special place within the strong and multi-faceted India-US relationship, and the two sides reached a record level of trade in goods and services worth USD 190 billion in 2023, Jaiswal said. On January 23, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who represented India at the inauguration ceremony of Trump, said that India has always been open to the legitimate return of undocumented Indians to their country.
“As a government, we are obviously very much supportive of legal mobility because we do believe in a global workplace… At the same time, we are also very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration,” Jaishankar had said. “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.” He was responding to a query on news reports that India is working with the Trump administration for the deportation of some 1,80,000 Indians in the US who are either undocumented or have overstayed their visas.
Department of Homeland Security in April 2024 said there were about 11 million illegal immigrants in the US in the year 2022. Mexico topped the list with 4.81 million illegal immigrants, followed by Guatemala (750,000), El Salvador (710,000), Honduras (560,000), Philippines (350,000), Venezuela (320,000), Colombia (230,000) and Brazil (230,000).
The DHS said there has been a sharp decline in illegal immigrants from India between 2018 and 2022. It says 220,000 Indians were living in the US illegally at the end of 2022. “The Indian population fell by 54 per cent, or 260,000 people, from 480,000 in 2018 to 220,000 in 2022, while the Chinese population declined by 47 per cent, or 180,000, from 390,000 to 210,000,” DHS said.
