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United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was looking to allow people to stay in the country, but not ready for citizenship or amnesty, an announcement that may benefit 800,000 young immigrants, including those from India.
Trump's statement came a day after top Democratic lawmakers Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi claimed that they had reached a deal with the president to protect about 800,000 young immigrants who came to America illegally as children and were given protection by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme.
Trump had scrapped the DACA programme earlier this month.
"We are not looking at citizenship. We are not looking at amnesty. We are looking at allowing people to stay here," Trump told reporters.
Trump said he is very close to a deal on DACA.
"I just spoke with Paul Ryan, everybody's on board... We are talking about taking care of people, people who were brought here, people who have done a good job. We will only do it if we get extreme security, not only surveillance but everything that goes with surveillance. If there is not a wall, we are doing nothing," he said.
In a statement after dinner with Trump at the White House, Schumer and Pelosi said that they have reached a deal with him on DACA.
"We had a very productive meeting at the White House with the president. The discussion focused on DACA. We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that is acceptable to both sides," Schumer and Pelosi said.
In a tweet early on Thursday morning, Trump however said that no deal has been reached.
'No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote,' he said, refuting claims being made by the Democratic leaders.
Pelosi tended to disagree at a news conference at the Capitol Hill.
"I do believe that there is an understanding that down the road, there is an eventual path to citizenship in the DREAM Act, and that overwhelmingly, the American people support that," she said.
"In a poll today, over 50 per cent, and then, you know, 12 per cent want to send them back, and then others somewhere in the middle. But it came up in the context of the suggestion that there might be other bills to be considered, and that did not last long," Pelosi said.
The atmosphere during the White House dinner last night, she said, was very friendly.
"We made it clear from the start that there were certain concerns that we had about some of the president's statements relating to the Muslim ban, Charlottesville, DACA decision and that we needed to establish some trust and confidence as we go forward.
"One path to building that confidence and trust would be the DREAM Act, DACA. The president likes to call it DACA. I believe that we have had enough conversation with the president with enough reiteration of his commitment to protect the dreamers, in fact, publicly. You saw his statements, today, that it would not be wise to send these young people back," Pelosi added.
No restrictions on H-1B visa: US official
A senior US official on Thursday sought to allay India's concerns on the H-1B visa programme, which is being 'reviewed' by the Trump administration, saying there are no 'restrictions' in place.
The official said around 70 per cent of the visas issued under the H-1B category over the past nine months have gone to Indians and that a record 1.2 million visas of Indians were adjudicated by the US last year.
The year-over-year increase in terms of issuance of H-1B visas and L1 visas (work permit) to Indians is six per cent each, the official said.
"The President (Donald Trump) spoke about review. There are no restrictions but it (H-1B) is under review," he said, adding the issue was not on the agenda for the upcoming Indo-US bilateral dialogue on consular relations, but it may come up in the course of the talks.
Trump had signed an executive order in April for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop 'visa abuses'.
The DACA amnesty programme granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the country illegally as children.
The official also said the US processed around 88,000 student visa applications last year, which is an increase of 15 per cent over 2015. Currently, there are around 1.6 lakh Indian students in the US, which is the second highest number of international students, after China.
Indian citizens made up six per cent of worldwide immigrant visa applicants, making them the fifth largest group of new immigrants after those from China, Philippines, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. Indian technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year for their US operations.