This wasn't just economic realism, it was a warning: India doesn't view foreign investment as partnership. It views it as a strategic weapon, a tool to capture technology, rebrand it under "Make in India" and convert American innovation into Indian geopolitical power.

Yet, while India quietly screens every deal through a sovereignty-first lens, it sells itself to U.S. policymakers as a "trusted partner," a counterweight to China and a democratic ally. That framing, now repeated by think tanks, foreign policy elites and bipartisan lawmakers, is India's most effective lobbying tool. It deflects scrutiny and unlocks everything from defense co-production to semiconductor investment to bilateral technology agreements.

As noted in a recent Eurasia Review analysis, India's growing closeness with the United States is already reshaping the geopolitical balance of Asia, particularly its relationship with China. Joint military exercises, arms transfers and intelligence sharing between India and the U.S. have emboldened India to take a more aggressive stance on the Chinese border. That's not just strategic cooperation, It's India using the China card to gain access to top-tier U.S. defense capabilities and next-gen technologies.

This wasn't just economic realism, it was a warning: India doesn't view foreign investment as partnership. It views it as a strategic weapon, a tool to capture technology, rebrand it under "Make in India" and convert American innovation into Indian geopolitical power.

Yet, while India quietly screens every deal through a sovereignty-first lens, it sells itself to U.S. policymakers as a "trusted partner," a counterweight to China and a democratic ally. That framing, now repeated by think tanks, foreign policy elites and bipartisan lawmakers, is India's most effective lobbying tool. It deflects scrutiny and unlocks everything from defense co-production to semiconductor investment to bilateral technology agreements.

As noted in a recent Eurasia Review analysis, India's growing closeness with the United States is already reshaping the geopolitical balance of Asia, particularly its relationship with China. Joint military exercises, arms transfers and intelligence sharing between India and the U.S. have emboldened India to take a more aggressive stance on the Chinese border. That's not just strategic cooperation, It's India using the China card to gain access to top-tier U.S. defense capabilities and next-gen technologies.

"Another case is Egypt and Ethiopia, and their fight over a massive dam that is having an effect on the magnificent Nile River. There is peace, at least for now, because of my intervention, and it will stay that way! Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" he added.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on "Sunday Morning Futures" that America stands "unequivocally with Israel," but he doesn't think "there is any scenario where we would see American boots on the ground."

"I think it is very much in the interests of America to see regime change," Cruz said.

These documents positioned Indian labor mobility not merely as an immigration issue, but as a bilateral trade imperative, embedding workforce access into broader economic negotiations between the two countries.

U.S.-India Bilateral Trade

The protectionism paradox: The geopolitical weaponization of the 'discrimination' narrative and why defending American jobs was branded as Anti-India

India strategically frames "protectionism" as a pejorative term to discredit any U.S. policy that prioritizes American workers or enforces immigration and trade laws, casting such measures as discriminatory or anti-global rather than lawful and necessary. But as it turns out the "protectionism" was seriously warranted all along.

For despite the India lobby's insistence that H-1B labor mobility benefits both countries, the evidence shows that systemic abuse, discrimination and visa fraud were not outliers but part of the operating model for many of the largest Indian multinationals in the U.S. These same firms claiming that protectionism would harm strategic partnerships have faced repeated allegations and federal actions for discriminating against and displacing American workers, abusing visa channels and gaming the U.S. labor system to their advantage.

Infosys, for example, paid a then-record $34 million settlement for systemic visa fraud involving the misuse of visas to circumvent H-1B regulations. The company was again investigated in 2021 over allegations of discriminatory hiring practices favoring Indian and South Asian workers. IT consulting company Cognizant likewise faced multiple lawsuits over its hiring practices, including a high-profile federal case in which it was accused of violating anti-discrimination laws by systematically favoring Indian nationals for hiring and promotion over equally or more qualified American workers.

In a landmark verdict, a U.S. jury found Cognizant guilty of discrimination, confirming that the company had, since at least 2013, unlawfully prioritized Indian workers in ways that directly harmed American employees and job applicants.

Indian tech company Wipro has also been the subject of multiple EEOC complaints and was named in a whistleblower lawsuit alleging a consistent pattern of replacing American employees with H-1B visa holders, favoring South Asian workers regardless of merit or tenure. Tech Mahindra faced similar allegations in a 2020 federal class action lawsuit that accused the company of discriminatory employment practices against non-South Asian and older American professionals, including biased terminations and hiring preferences in favor of Indian nationals.

HCL Technologies was also named in a major class action lawsuit believed to involve thousands of affected U.S. workers, alleging widespread discriminatory hiring practices. These cases, many brought by the law firm Kotchen & Low, have exposed a disturbing pattern across top-tier Indian IT companies, with Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services all accused of systematically disadvantaging qualified American workers in violation of U.S. labor and civil rights laws.

These patterns are far from isolated. They represent a coordinated and deeply entrenched strategy that has reshaped the American labor market.

Indian IT giants didn't merely displace individual U.S. workers; they systematically undercut entire sectors, including domestic staffing firms, by deploying a business model rooted in low-cost H‑1B labor and aggressive offshoring. As the Economic Policy Institute documented, firms like HCL engaged in widespread wage theft, underpaying H‑1B workers by over $95 million annually, exploiting loopholes in U.S. visa law to maximize profits while eroding American wage standards.

The fallout didn't stop with workers. American staffing companies, once the backbone of domestic talent pipelines, have either shuttered under the weight of unfair wage competition or opted to outsource themselves. This isn't just a matter of job loss; it's a slow dismantling of the broader U.S. labor ecosystem.

Even as American livelihoods were outsourced, the India lobby again reframed the narrative. Industry-backed studies circulated among U.S. policymakers claimed that "outsourcing and globalization will benefit the U.S. economy" "through cheaper services, greater efficiency and higher shareholder returns," assuring that any "pain and suffering caused by the dislocation of U.S. workers" would be more than offset by broader macroeconomic gains.

In reality, those dislocations hollowed out communities, careers and entire industries in America.

Yet through all of this, not one of the major India-based industry groups, CII, USIBC, NASSCOM or NAAIIP, has meaningfully addressed these abuses. Instead, they have portrayed any attempt to implement reforms or oversight as "discriminatory" against Indian firms, effectively shielding repeat offenders from accountability. While American workers were pushed aside, lobbyists and corporate executives were busy spinning talking points about innovation, diversity and "bilateral growth."

While clear evidence of abuse piled up, U.S. policymakers repeatedly failed to uphold their duty to protect American workers. Congressional hearings have highlighted these issues for years, yet lawmakers from both parties have refused to enact meaningful reforms or enforce existing laws. Whether motivated by political convenience, donor influence or diplomatic priorities, the outcome has been the same: American labor was sacrificed in favor of India's economic ambitions.

Perhaps the answer lies in the enormous lobbying budgets poured into Washington by Infosys, Cognizant, Tata, Wipro and HCL, together spending nearly $35 million over this period. These companies have relentlessly lobbied for looser H-1B and L-1 visa rules, the elimination of per-country green card limits and the defeat of any policy that would curb outsourcing, raise labor costs, or strengthen protections for American workers. Their well-funded campaigns have enabled the unchecked displacement of American jobs, blocking every serious effort at accountability or reform.

Visa policy as a trade weapon

India has made no secret of its strategy. As early as 2009, both the Confederation of Indian Industry and Indian ambassadors urged U.S. lawmakers to treat H-1B access as a trade concession no different than tariffs or market entry rights. During high-level meetings with U.S. Chamber of Commerce executives and members of Congress, CII consistently tied "skilled labor mobility" to broader trade negotiations.

Strengthening US-India Economic Partnerships

India's gambit was simple: Use visas as a form of leverage to gain access to American markets, technology and capital while avoiding reciprocal commitments. In 2020, Indian officials expressed optimism that the Biden administration would go soft on immigration policy.

Joe Biden Means a Lot for India

By 2021, India had become the top recipient of H-1Bs and the largest source of foreign students in the U.S., with over 100,000 Indian students attending American universities.

Strengthening US-India Economic Partnerships

While India advanced its labor-export strategy with precision, the American public was left to reconcile a glaring contradiction: On paper, the U.S. economy remained strong, still the world's top importer and exporter, with wages reportedly rising and the U.S. share of global gross national product once again increasing. But despite these markers of success, American workers felt increasingly uncertain about their futures.

The promise of prosperity no longer matched their lived reality. The job market, especially for new graduates and white-collar professionals, became saturated, offshored or automated. Confidence plummeted. The disconnect was so stark that many began gravitating toward leaders like Donald Trump and his campaign promises of "Make America Great Again" and "America First", whose rhetoric resonated with citizens who felt sidelined by trade deals and immigration policies that favored foreign interests, especially those aggressively pushed by India.

Americans voted for the America First promise

During his first administration, Trump attempted to curb the displacement of American workers by issuing executive orders focused on restoring integrity to the H-1B program and enforcing a "Hire American, Buy American" agenda, efforts aimed at protecting domestic labor from being undercut by cheap foreign imports and outsourcing schemes masquerading as skilled migration, a policy that was later revoked during the Biden administration.

Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024 did so with clear economic anxieties in mind. Many working-class and middle-income voters felt sidelined by declining job prospects, wage stagnation and the threat of automation making his campaign promises to "make America great again" a genuine beacon of hope.

Throughout Trump's campaign, voters were drawn to the belief that "America First" and "Make America Great Again" would mean bringing more jobs back to America, that it would "end the theft of American prosperity" by both illegal and "legal" immigration. But as the campaign progressed, cracks began to appear.

By mid‑2024, Trump began softening. Speaking on a All-In podcast hosted by Silicon Valley tech investors, angel investor Jason Calacanis told Trump the U.S. needs to be able to legally retain more high-skilled workers, a major issue for the tech industry, where Trump proposed granting green cards to foreign students upon U.S. college graduation: "If you graduate from a U.S. college, you should automatically get a Green Card as part of your diploma." This marked a departure from his earlier strict stance.

That evolution sparked both praise from industry leaders like Elon Musk, who insisted America needed those skilled graduates, and sharp criticism from right-wing figures who saw it as a betrayal of working Americans. Musk, a former H‑1B holder himself, asserted that the program contributes essential talent, while populist voices warned it would undercut their economic base.

To many Trump voters who backed his anti-immigration posture, this shift felt like a broken promise. They had trusted that his rhetoric would curb offshoring, close visa loopholes and deliver real job protection. Instead, they watched as temporary relief gave way to compromises that favored strategic economic elites and left their dreams of job security unfulfilled.

Since Trump's return to the White House in January 2025, India has intensified its strategic push on multiple fronts, visa diplomacy, trade and geopolitical coordination, all clearly aimed at preserving its advantaged position in the U.S. labor market.

In the opening days of Trump's new term, India's Ministry of External Affairs swiftly reaffirmed that H‑1B visa access "benefits both countries," publicly thanking Trump and Elon Musk for their backing, including Musk's willingness to go to "war" to defend H-1B visas. As the new administration increased scrutiny on H‑1B petitions, Indian professionals pivoted toward alternative channels, L‑1, O‑1 and EB‑5 visas, driving a surge in demand of up to 50% since January 2025.

India-US Relations Set to Grow with H-1B Visa Support from Trump

In a calculated diplomatic gesture, India agreed to repatriate approximately 18,000 undocumented nationals in a move aimed at preserving legal migration pathways for its H-1B workforce. The proposal, timed to align with Trump's renewed focus on immigration enforcement, signaled India's willingness to cooperate on deportations as a means to protect its long-term labor interests.

Surprisingly, India ranks as the third-largest source of illegal immigrants in the United States, with nearly 90,000 Indian nationals arrested attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally in 2023 alone.

During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's February visit to Washington, he reaffirmed this stance at the White House, stating, "If Indians are living in the U.S. illegally, India is ready to take them back." That visit also secured trade and tariff concessions: India agreed to reduce duties on U.S. imports, including motorcycles and whiskey, and signaled openness to broader bilateral tariff dialogues, consistent with a deal framework that Trump administration officials suggested could be finalized by mid-2025.

The labor takeover: How India replaced Americans in their own economy

Today, more than five million Indians hold nonimmigrant visas to the U.S. and have a mission to issue thousands more each day.

U.S. consulates in India issued over one million nonimmigrant visas in 2024 for the second year running and piloted a domestic H‑1B renewal program now slated for expansion in 2025, a development supported by Indian-American lawmakers and celebrated in Indian media as a win for "bilateral mobility."

The U.S. mission quietly issued tens of thousands of permanent residency permits to Indian visa holders on arrival under the banner of "family reunification" Over 72% of H-1Bs go to India-born workers year after year, facilitated by lobbying groups like CII and NASSCOM, which have pushed to eliminate wage floors, oversight and limits on job portability.

Critics like Ronil Hira, a leading expert on tech labor policy, have warned that the system not only displaces Americans, but also traps Indian workers in arrangements that amount to indentured servitude, as they are completely beholden to the company that hires them.

"There is no systemic shortage of American tech workers," Hira testified before Congress. "This is about cost, not skills."

Yet, the myth persists. India's government, global consultants and Indian-American CEOs continue to cast H-1B expansion as an innovation necessity. Meanwhile, Indian companies use the system to build their own U.S. presence, extract corporate secrets and reroute R&D and contracts back to India.

In sum, India's 2025 strategy is unambiguous: It has doubled down on curated visa access, diplomatic coordination on immigration and trade and national capacity building. The result has preserved its leverage in the U.S. even as America's own labor market shows signs of decline.

When promises become policy … and policy becomes betrayal

In 2025, as artificial intelligence began replacing white-collar jobs en masse, India doubled down. Officials called for more remittances, more "global mobility" and expanded visa access through schemes like GATI, which aims to export millions more skilled Indian workers to Western nations including the U.S. as a formal economic development tool.

Despite mass layoffs across the U.S. tech and white-collar sectors, USCIS recently disclosed that 120,141 H-1B visa applications were selected for fiscal year 2025, each representing a foreign worker who could displace an American in industries already shedding jobs. Rather than acknowledging this growing concern, Indian media outlets have launched coordinated attacks on Americans who dare to speak out.

The Times of India mocked critics, stating "MAGA supporters freaked out over the 'huge' number of H-1B approvals and contended that U.S. jobs are still being stolen," downplaying the figure as insignificant.

In a nation of 1.4 billion, 120,000 may seem trivial. In the United States, however, where many citizens are struggling to find employment or reenter the job market, even one job lost to a foreign worker is one too many. Americans are rightfully alarmed when their own government permits visa-based labor imports, while their neighbors remain unemployed, their children face bleak job prospects and the American Dream continues to slip further out of reach.

A decade-long bargain that never paid off

Despite more than a decade of high-level summits, diplomatic photo ops and carefully worded declarations emphasizing "mutual prosperity," the U.S.-India economic relationship has remained deeply one-sided. What was sold as a strategic partnership, founded on the premises of "reciprocal trade," "open markets" and "shared growth," has instead operated as a conduit for India's economic advancement at America's expense.

While Indian firms enjoy unrestricted access to American markets, India continues to shield its own, limiting U.S. firms' reciprocal access to Indian markets. India maintains one of the highest average tariff rates among U.S. trade partners at 17% and continues to impose protectionist barriers on U.S. technology, media, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and digital services. India's discriminatory procurement policies still favor local suppliers and domestic firms, often under the banner of "Aatmanirbhar Bharat," or economic self-reliance.

Americans became the collateral damage

Now, as the job market softens and recession warnings loom, Americans are waking up to the harsh reality that they were never part of the equation. They were the cost. Today's employment crisis isn't accidental; it's structural, built over decades of policy favoring foreign interests, cheap labor and global integration at the expense of national stability. And at the center of it all was a visa program marketed as "high skill," but repurposed as a powerful geopolitical tool.

India played the long game. American leaders folded. And U.S. workers were left behind.

Americans deserve the truth about how this happened. The trail leads back to India, their trade groups like the Confederation of Indian Industry, foreign lobbying networks, corporate collusion and a political class that chose profits over patriotism. It's time to put America first again and to demand that America's immigration, trade and labor policies serve its people, not foreign governments.