External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the government has not accepted a list of alleged illegal Indian immigrants in the United States that the Donald Trump administration had handed over to New Delhi. The US list names 271 Indians identified for deportation. Swaraj told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that the government had sought details and will issue an emergency certificate for their deportation only after complete verification, PTI reported.

The minister also said that the Centre verified all papers thoroughly before handing over travel documents. “If we don’t provide travel documents, they will be jailed...There are no authentic figures on the number of undocumented Indian immigrants in the US,” she said, adding that since 2014, 576 Indians had been given travel documents.

On H-1B and L1 work visas to the US, Swaraj pointed out that none of the four Bills introduced in the US Congress, which seek to make granting the visas more stringent, had been passed yet. “We are conveying to them that IT professionals are not stealing jobs but contributing to the US economy and making it stronger,” she said.

Swaraj defended the present administration in the US when members of the Upper House raised questions about its policies. She said it would be incorrect to say there had been a drastic change in US policies since Trump assumed office. Swaraj assured MPs that the government was in talks with the US to safeguard the interests of Indians there.

The minister also pointed out that there had been “flip-flops” in the past before Trump became the president, reported IANS. “In 1990, when H-1B visas were first introduced, the cap was 65,000. In 2000, it was raised to 1,95,000 for three years. In 2004, the number of these visas was again reversed to 65,000 by the US. So there has been a flip-flop on this policy even before the Donald Trump government,” she noted.