Trump's immigration plans to impact 3 lakh Indian-Americans, EU ready to welcome more Indian skilled workers

New Delhi: Amid anxiety in India over the protectionist policies of Trump administration and possible clampdown on H1B visa, the European Union came openly expressing that it's ready to accommodate more India-skilled IT professionals.

Nearly 300,000 Indian-Americans are likely to be impacted by the Trump administration's sweeping plans that put the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants at risk of deportation.

Pushing for deeper trade ties with India, a delegation of European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs also expressed "regret" over failure by both sides to resume the stalled dialogue to firm the long-pending EU-India trade and investment pact.

Criticising the new US government's protectionist rhetoric which triggered fears in Europe as well, head of the delegation David McAllister said Europe is "open" for allowing more Indian professionals who are high on demand.

"Europe is open for people with high demand. Indian people are highly skilled. Our IT sector would not have been successful if we did not have skilled professionals from India," he said.

Soon after taking over last month, Trump had decided to overhaul the work visa programmes like the H-1B and L1, a move that will adversely hit the lifeline of Indian tech firms and professional  in the US.

Pressing for early resumption of negotiations for the EU -India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), McAllister said the delegation urged the Indian leaders to resume the talks as the pact will significantly boost two-way trade.

"We deeply regret that we are not being able to move ahead. We will use the visit to call for resumption of talks for the agreement," he told reporters.

Donald Trump's immigration blow

President Donald Trump has laid the groundwork for potentially deporting millions of undocumented immigrants by issuing new guidance that drastically broadens the ways in which federal immigration laws should be enforced.

"The Department no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an enforcement memo.

"Department personnel have full authority to arrest or apprehend an alien whom an immigration officer has probable cause to believe is in violation of the immigration laws," it said.

The Department of Homeland Security has issued two enforcement memos, which among other things, tightens deportation of illegal immigrants.

The emphasis is on criminal aliens, though, but opens up the door for others too.

Indian-Americans as per unofficial figures account for nearly 300,000 illegal aliens.

According to the memo, the DHS Secretary has the authority to apply expedited removal provisions to aliens who have not been admitted or paroled into the US, who are inadmissible, and who have not been continuously physically present in the US for the two-year period immediately prior to the determination of their inadmissibility, so that such aliens are immediately removed unless the alien is an unaccompanied minor, intends to apply for asylum or has a fear of persecution or torture in their home country, or claims to have lawful immigration status.

The memorandum said when illegal aliens apprehended do not pose a risk of a subsequent illegal entry, returning them to the foreign contiguous territory from which they arrived, pending the outcome of removal proceedings, saves the government detention and adjudication resources for other priority aliens.

With PTI Inputs