USA/INDIA – US President Donald Trump has said India “will do what’s right” on the deportation of illegal migrants following a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders spoke on Monday, their first conversation since Trump’s inauguration last week. They discussed immigration, security issues and trade in what the White House described as a “productive call”. Trump told reporters after the call that Modi was likely to visit the United States “sometime in February”.

Since taking office on 20 January, Trump has announced a number of immigration-related executive orders, paving the way for a widespread effort to crack down on undocumented migrants in the US. According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants in the US as of 2024.

Last week, India’s foreign ministry said Delhi would take in Indians overstaying “anywhere in the world” as long as their documents were shared and nationality was verified. In their phone call on Monday, the ministry said, Trump and Modi discussed the bilateral relationship, “including in the areas of technology, trade, investment, energy and defence”. The two leaders also discussed security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. (BBC)