US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that tighter American immigration rules are not directed at India. In an interview with The Indian Express, he said the measures form part of a wider effort to reform the US immigration system under the Trump administration. The comments come as Indian students and skilled workers face greater scrutiny over work visas and entry processes.

Rubio told the newspaper that the changes might appear focused on India from a local viewpoint, but they are not. He explained that the administration aims to correct years of neglect and alleged misuse of visa programmes. “The biggest threat to legal immigration is illegal immigration. The biggest threat to legal immigration is mass migration,” he said, adding that mass migration is not an Indian issue but linked more to other regions.

He claimed about 20 million people entered the United States unlawfully during the previous administration and that several visa programmes had been abused. Rubio noted these problems are not unique to Indians and pointed to practices such as birth tourism as examples the government seeks to stop. He acknowledged that India’s strong economic and people-to-people links with the US mean large numbers of Indians apply in certain visa categories, making the effects more visible there.

Rubio stressed that the United States still wants people to visit, study, work temporarily and invest, as long as they follow the law. He said the country is fixing its system on a global scale and receives similar complaints about visas from nearly every nation he visits. Once reformed, he argued, the framework should serve both legal applicants and American interests more effectively over the long term.

The remarks address growing questions in India about future opportunities under the stricter approach, which has affected work visas and applications from students and professionals.

(HT)