BY DEVIKA C MEHTA
LOS ANGELES, CA - A fear of distrust and concern was cited by the Asia Society of Southern California on Jan 23 at a gathering which discussed ‘Asia and Asian-Americans in the time of Trump’, at the Omni Hotel here. Some plush efforts to lighten the effect were made by the noted Indian speakers who maintained that there is nothing...
LOS ANGELES, CA - A fear of distrust and concern was cited by the Asia Society of Southern California on Jan 23 at a gathering which discussed ‘Asia and Asian-Americans in the time of Trump’, at the Omni Hotel here. Some plush efforts to lighten the effect were made by the noted Indian speakers who maintained that there is nothing...
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to fear from the Donald Trump administration in US as far as the Indian-American community is concerned. One of the key speakers at the event, Ambassador Venkatesan Ashok, Consul General of India, San Francisco, noted that US-India relations have seen a great high in the past 10 years as they have shared both geopolitical and economic growth prospects under previous administrations and Donald Trump’s governance would be no different. “In the last decade, trajectory of Indo-US relationship has been aspiring and we are sure that it will continue,” he said.
Giving examples from the glorious past, he explained, how both the countries have engaged in joint military and army exercises, jointly worked on custom border issues and counter terrorism practices. “Economics, trade and investment under the Obama government only enhanced. We should assume that aspirationally the US will remain committed to India and Congress bipartisans will feel the need to have good relations with India.”
Ashok also made it a point to highlight the success ratio of joint partnership of both the countries in various fields including student programs in US universities, defense manufacturing and hardware purchasing, medicine, cancer research, cosmology, monsoon research and others. However, voicing concerns, Ashok observed that Trump’s presidency ‘can’ have a major impact on two issues- “one on Indian companies that are investing in the US; and second on companies that employ Indians in America.”
Highlighting the second concern, he pointed that H1-B visa rules might suffer a jolt soon. Outlining the new bill ‘Protect and Grow American Jobs Act’, he agreed that it can sting the Indian workforce in the US. Significantly, Indian IT contributes about 4 lakh direct and indirect jobs in the US and accounts for about $5 billion in yearly taxes. Also, Indians with H-1B & L-1 visas contribute $1 billion annually though the US President Trump in his fiery speeches has regularly claimed that Americans will not be replaced by foreign workers and immigrants. When India Journal asked about ‘statistics of illegal Indian immigrants in US’, Ahilan T Arulanantham, Director of Advocacy/Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California replied, “In recent years, there has been an unprecedented flood. Recently, the number of unauthorized Indian immigrants in the US have surged by 43% to a total of around 500,000, thus pushing up India to the fourth rank and becoming one of the largest source of unauthorized migrants to America. Even in legal terms, in 2014 about 136,000 people came to the US from India.”
Notably, Indian-Americans across the US comprise 4 million people, representing around 1.25% of the US population as of 2015. Most of the Indians in the US are from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab.
Another noted personality at the event, Deepa Fernando- a journalist and author, while speaking exclusively to India Journal about Trump reinstating ‘pro-life’ Mexico City Policy reacted, “The reinstatement will have deep impact especially in countries like India which majorly depend on foreign funding. If you take safe abortion services out of the reproductive health care package, it exposes women to risk. Just think about the mortality rate.” One significant issue that gained interest of the audience and panelists’ was the ‘changing’ Indo-China-US relationship. Speaking about the triangular aspect, Indian Consul General ruled out the possibility of India pursuing a balance of power vis-a-vis China and agreed, “There will definitely be a spin off; it is no secret that for years China has been trying to dominate India by gaining momentum to several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centers in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Somalia. Still, things are under control, but yes, if US changes any parameters with China, the whole equation will change with India.” Other panelists also echoed Ashok’s sentiment by adding that Trump needs to understand the importance of Asia and Asian- Americans and work on striking a balance to counter China and its manipulative practices.
Giving examples from the glorious past, he explained, how both the countries have engaged in joint military and army exercises, jointly worked on custom border issues and counter terrorism practices. “Economics, trade and investment under the Obama government only enhanced. We should assume that aspirationally the US will remain committed to India and Congress bipartisans will feel the need to have good relations with India.”
Ashok also made it a point to highlight the success ratio of joint partnership of both the countries in various fields including student programs in US universities, defense manufacturing and hardware purchasing, medicine, cancer research, cosmology, monsoon research and others. However, voicing concerns, Ashok observed that Trump’s presidency ‘can’ have a major impact on two issues- “one on Indian companies that are investing in the US; and second on companies that employ Indians in America.”
Highlighting the second concern, he pointed that H1-B visa rules might suffer a jolt soon. Outlining the new bill ‘Protect and Grow American Jobs Act’, he agreed that it can sting the Indian workforce in the US. Significantly, Indian IT contributes about 4 lakh direct and indirect jobs in the US and accounts for about $5 billion in yearly taxes. Also, Indians with H-1B & L-1 visas contribute $1 billion annually though the US President Trump in his fiery speeches has regularly claimed that Americans will not be replaced by foreign workers and immigrants. When India Journal asked about ‘statistics of illegal Indian immigrants in US’, Ahilan T Arulanantham, Director of Advocacy/Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California replied, “In recent years, there has been an unprecedented flood. Recently, the number of unauthorized Indian immigrants in the US have surged by 43% to a total of around 500,000, thus pushing up India to the fourth rank and becoming one of the largest source of unauthorized migrants to America. Even in legal terms, in 2014 about 136,000 people came to the US from India.”
Notably, Indian-Americans across the US comprise 4 million people, representing around 1.25% of the US population as of 2015. Most of the Indians in the US are from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab.
Another noted personality at the event, Deepa Fernando- a journalist and author, while speaking exclusively to India Journal about Trump reinstating ‘pro-life’ Mexico City Policy reacted, “The reinstatement will have deep impact especially in countries like India which majorly depend on foreign funding. If you take safe abortion services out of the reproductive health care package, it exposes women to risk. Just think about the mortality rate.” One significant issue that gained interest of the audience and panelists’ was the ‘changing’ Indo-China-US relationship. Speaking about the triangular aspect, Indian Consul General ruled out the possibility of India pursuing a balance of power vis-a-vis China and agreed, “There will definitely be a spin off; it is no secret that for years China has been trying to dominate India by gaining momentum to several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centers in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Somalia. Still, things are under control, but yes, if US changes any parameters with China, the whole equation will change with India.” Other panelists also echoed Ashok’s sentiment by adding that Trump needs to understand the importance of Asia and Asian- Americans and work on striking a balance to counter China and its manipulative practices.
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