External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for bilateral meeting on January 21, after Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States.

This was the first official meeting between the Indian and US governments’ after Trump 2.0 took office. Both leaders affirmed a shared commitment to continuing to strengthen the partnership between the two nations.

According to a government statement, discussions covered regional issues and opportunities to further deepen the US-India relationship, in particular on critical and emerging technologies, defense cooperation, energy, and on advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Secretary Rubio also emphasised the Trump Administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration.

The meeting also came against the backdrop of the US identifying some 18,000 illegal Indian migrants to be sent back home, for which India will verify and start the process of deportation, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

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The figure could be much higher than that, though, given that it’s unclear how many illegal Indian migrants live in the US, the people added, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

According to the Bloomberg report, India’s government is prepared to work with Donald Trump’s administration to identify and take back all its citizens residing illegally in the US, an early signal from New Delhi that it’s willing to comply with the incoming American president and avoid a trade war.

The people cited in the report suggest that youth from western states of India, particularly Punjab and Gujarat, are believed to constitute a majority of the illegal immigrants in the US.

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Meanwhile, in return for its cooperation, India hopes that the Trump administration would protect legal immigration channels used by its citizens to enter the US such as student visas and the H-1B program for skilled workers. Indian citizens accounted for almost three-fourths of the 386,000 H-1B visas granted in 2023, according to official data.

Responding to a media query, Trump has stated he doesn’t want to stop the H-1B visa programme as he wants competent people coming into the US.