Will Donald Trump Make a Wall to Stop Indian Programmers?

Donald Trump had said that he will constitute a deportation army to shoo out 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States.

By Rakesh Raman

The U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he will make tough immigration laws to protect the local jobs for American workers.

For example, Trump has been clamoring about a wall that he wants to build to stop the inflow of Mexicans into America.

The businessman-turned-politician believes that Mexico has taken advantage of America, as Mexican gangs, drug traffickers, and cartels have freely exploited America’s open borders and committed a vast number of crimes inside the country.

[ Obama Allays Mexico’s Fears About Trump’s Wall ]

Trump has said that the proposed 1000-mile-long, 30-ft-high wall will cost up to $10 billion and he will make Mexico pay for it.

Trump also had said in his election speeches that if he became the U.S. president, he will constitute a deportation army to shoo out 11 million illegal immigrants from the United States. As the U.S. President, Trump’s main priority will be to create and protect jobs of Americans.

Thank you Wisconsin! My Administration will be focused on three very important words: jobs, jobs, jobs! Watch: https://t.co/vatXZb3oM2 pic.twitter.com/87TyY7CG0X

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2016

As India is scared of Trump’s rhetoric, it wants to urge Trump to relax the U.S. entry for Indian workers – particularly Indian programmers who earn billions of dollars by providing low-end data entry or code writing services to American clients.

[ Can Donald Trump Bring Jobs Back to America? No Way. ]

Government of India has taken up the visa as well as social security issues with the U.S. administration to address the concerns arising out of the impact of such measures on the domestic industry particularly the Indian Information Technology (IT) industry.

“India will continue the efforts with the new Government of the U.S. under the leadership of their new President Mr. Donald Trump also,” India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said today.

Visa related issues of IT industry have been raised with the U.S. Government at the Ministerial dialogues during the Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in August 2016 and the Trade Policy Forum in October 2016.

Also, according to a government statement released today, the matter on U.S. visa fee hike has been raised by India at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Geneva.

India had consultations with the United States on 11-12 May 2016 at the WTO, Geneva under WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism. India had raised claims on U.S. measures relating to:

• Fees for L-1 and H-1B visas;
• Numerical commitment for H-1B visas.

India is also pursuing for bilateral Totalization Agreement with the U.S. In the Trade Policy Forum held in October 2016, both the countries acknowledged the ongoing discussions on totalisation and resolved to continue their engagement on the elements required in both countries in order to pursue a bilateral Totalisation Agreement.

During the Trade Policy Forum held in October 2106, India and the U.S. had decided to continue their engagement on visa issues and reiterated their resolve to facilitate the movement of professionals.

The Inauguration Day ceremony will take place on January 20, 2017 when Trump is scheduled to begin his four-year term as President.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a government award-winning journalist and runs free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.

Photo courtesy: Trump / Twitter