May 23, 2026 12:42 pm IST

Opinion | Rubio Is In India, But Trump's America Just Launched Its Sharpest Attack On Indian Immigrants

Thousands of Indians who spent years following American laws and paying taxes in the US may now face the prospect of leaving the country during processing with no certainty of return timelines.

Brig (Retd) Anil Raman Brig (Retd) Anil Raman Columnist

Brig (Retd) Anil Raman Columnist

As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in India for the Quad meeting and strategic consultations, the Trump administration is preparing one of the sharpest reversals of long-standing American immigration policy in decades.

At the centre of this shift is a new USCIS approach that seeks to restrict adjustment of status inside the United States and push many legal immigrants to complete green card processing from abroad. This is not merely an administrative change. It overturns the logic Congress itself built into the American immigration system.

For decades, US law allowed legally admitted migrants to transition from temporary visas to permanent residency while remaining inside the country. Congress deliberately created categories such as the H-1B visa around the idea of "dual intent", where skilled workers could arrive temporarily while eventually seeking permanent settlement.

That framework........

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