US secretary of state flags ‘irregular migration’ in meeting with S Jaishankar

The United States wants to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to “irregular migration”, newly-appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday.

Rubio and Jaishankar met in Washington just after a meeting of the foreign ministers of Quad nations. This was the first meeting of the dignitaries since Donald Trump began his second term as the US President on Monday.

The Quad is a strategic international coalition comprising India, the United States, Japan and Australia.

After their meeting, the US Department of State said that Rubio and Jaishankar discussed a “wide range of topics…including critical and emerging technologies, defense cooperation, energy and on advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region”.

“Secretary Rubio also emphasized the Trump Administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration,” said the US Department of State.

The meeting came against the backdrop of New Delhi expressing readiness to cooperate with the US to identify and repatriate Indian citizens residing illegally in the country, according to Bloomberg.

Authorities from both nations have identified approximately 18,000 undocumented Indian migrants in the US for deportation, Bloomberg reported citing unidentified persons. The true number could be higher because the total population of undocumented Indian immigrants in the US is…

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