India has delivered a diplomatic slap to Washington following Vice President JD Vance’s latest comments on immigration. New Delhi on Friday called Vance’s reference to “foreign indentured servants” “deeply offensive” and steeped in colonial-era baggage, CNBC reported. “Such descriptions are unwarranted and ignore the fact that Indian professionals in the United States are highly skilled and skilled contributors to its economy and innovation ecosystem,” the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Vance used the phrase Thursday in announcing a Labor Department decision to bar Microsoft, Adobe and several major Indian IT companies, including Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Cognizant, Capgemini and HCL, from a program that allows them to sponsor green cards for workers on H-1B visas. He urged companies to “stop importing an indentured servant to do a job that an American worker would happily do.” In India, the phrase is associated with a colonial-era system in which workers were forced to work in exploitative conditions overseas, often on plantations, Bloomberg reports.
About 70% of H-1B recipients last year were born in India, CNBC reports. India stressed that the suspension would not affect current H-1B holders or their families and argued that cross-border “talent mobility” benefits both sides. IT industry group Nasscom says Indian technology companies have significantly reduced their reliance on H-1B visas in recent years and are increasing their hiring in the United States.
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