The United States started the process of deporting illegal Indian immigrants back to the country, a US official told news agency Reuters.
A US military C-17 aircraft carrying 205 Indians departed from San Antonio, Texas, around 3 am IST on Tuesday and will land in Amritsar at around 9 am on Wednesday. This is the first batch of nationals to be sent back to India. According to NDTV, the military aircraft, unless fitted with an air-transportable galley, has a single toilet onboard for the passengers.
Soon after resuming office, President Donald Trump stated that the country would be deporting 11 million illegal immigrants to their respective countries. “For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came,” Trump told reporters last month.
Last month, Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar said India would accept those illegal immigrants after a verification process. “Such action is often linked to other unlawful activities. It is neither desirable nor beneficial for our reputation. If any of our citizens are found to be in the US illegally, and we verify their citizenship, we are open to their lawful return to India,” Jaishankar had said.
Ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India is ready to take back its citizens who are reportedly overstaying. At a recent press briefing, he said, “For Indians not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world, if they are Indian nationals and they are overstaying, or they are in a particular country without proper documentation, we will take them back, provided documents are shared with us so that we can verify their nationality and that they are indeed Indians. If that happens to be the case, we will take things forward and facilitate their return to India.”
US President Trump, in a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had made it crystal clear of zero tolerance for illegal Indian immigrants to the US. Modi had assured him that India was ready to take its nationals living illegally in the United States.
According to Business Standard, the number of Indian migrants attempting to enter the US unlawfully has grown. A US-based Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data states that Indians make up three percent, surpassing other Asian groups such as Filipinos.
In 2023-24, as many as 90,415 attempts by Indian nationals to enter the country without authorisation, mostly via the northern border, were recorded by US officials.
Better economic conditions are one of the main reasons why Indians attempt to enter the US illegally.
“The lowest per capita income in the US is USD 48,110 recorded in the state of Mississippi. But the net national income for India is about 2.4 percent of that, which is around USD 1,161. Bihar has the lowest per capita income at about USD 708, or around 1.5 percent of the poorest state in the US,” Partner at Circle of Counsels Russell A Stamets Russell was quoted by Business Standard.
