US safe country, cares deeply about wellbeing of Indian students: Envoy

New Delhi, April 26

United States is a safe country and it “cares deeply” for the well-being of Indian students, its Ambassador Eric Garcetti said here on Friday and assured parents that “their children are our children when they are in the US”.

Assures parents

We care deeply for the wellbeing of Indian students in the US. We want parents to know that their children are our children when they are in United States. Eric Garcetti, US Ambassador to India

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His comments during an interview at the American Center comes in the backdrop of reports of nearly half a dozen deaths of Indian and Indian-origin students in the US since January.

While the US remains a preferred destination for higher studies among Indian students, the string of such cases has raised concern among the Indo-American community as well as the Indian population.

While lamenting these tragic deaths in the past few months, the American ambassador to India asserted that “US is a safe country”. Garcetti underlined that students studying abroad should familiarise themselves, have a network, trusted friends, and should know what to do if there is a dangerous situation, or if there is a mental health issue.

The US envoy underlined that students going to study in the US should know that there are campus securities, local law enforcements, and that “all these things sometimes students just don’t know, since it is a new country”.

Garcetti, a former mayor of Los Angeles, shared his own experience of personal safety when he was a student. “When I was a student, I went to NYC in the 1980s, which was a pretty dangerous city then. But I sat down and listened to campus security, and this is before cell phones. Now, in 2024, we have so many more resources than when I was a student,” he said.