Washington:
Accusing India along with China, Iran and four other countries of refusing to take back their nationals who were deported from the US, a lawmaker has introduced a legislation aimed at denying aid to such nations and visas to their nationals.
Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, Congressman Ted Poe said the number of such "criminal aliens" in the US had increased to 1,60,000. However, he did not give details of how many of them were from India.
"Right now there are over 1,60,000 of these criminal aliens roaming our nation and our streets. These people have been lawfully deported after they've served their prison time, but their home nation refuses to take them back," Poe said.
He said several countries were refusing to take back their lawfully convicted nationals, naming Vietnam, Jamaica, China, India, Ethiopia, Laos, and Iran.
"These individuals are really people without a country. So what happens to them? Because they have served their time in our Federal and State prisons for felonies, they are actually released back into our communities," Poe said.
Introducing the legislation in the House Poe said: "This bill says that any country who won't take back lawfully convicted foreign nationals who have been deported will lose foreign aid".
Poe said for countries like China, which do not receive foreign aid, the bill has a provision for denying legal visas for their citizens to come into the US.
"No more student visas for China if they won't take back their convicted criminals that have been deported. None whatsoever," he said.
Noting that the current law says the US government may deny visas under these circumstances, he alleged the State Department seems to refuse to send individuals back to their countries because they don't want to hurt their feelings.
"My bill won't allow the State Department to ignore that portion of the law. Therefore, it will be mandatory. If they refuse to take back convicted foreign nationals, that nation will lose the right to come here legally," Poe said.
"We need to make sure that these individuals don't come here in the first place, especially the criminal element. All sorts of dangerous things are coming across our wide-open borders," he said.