New Delhi: Nearly 16,000 Indians have been deported from the US since 2009, for attempting to enter the North American country illegally, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar informed Rajya Sabha Thursday. He added that New Delhi is engaging with the US to ensure Indians deported are not “mistreated” in any manner by American authorities.
In a statement to the Rajya Sabha on the deportation flight that landed in Amritsar the previous day, Jaishankar highlighted that the process of deportation is not new, but has been “ongoing for several years”.
The use of restraints has been standard operating procedure by US authorities since 2012, he added, referring to reports that Indians on the deportation flight were handcuffed and their legs chained.
A total of 15,903 Indians have been deported from the US since 2009, including the 104 who were returned to Amritsar Wednesday, according data provided by the Indian foreign minister in the House.
“…it is in our collective interest to encourage legal mobility and discourage illegal movement. In fact, illegal mobility and migration has many other associated activities also of an illegal nature. Moreover, those of our citizens who have been inveigled into illegal movement themselves become prey to other crimes,” said Jaishankar to the Rajya Sabha.
He added: “It is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad. This is naturally subject to an unambiguous verification of their nationality. This is not a policy applicable to any specific country nor indeed one only practiced by India.”
Controversy arose over the deportation flight, given that the returning Indians were reported to have been in handcuffs and had their legs restrained and were brought to Amritsar on a US military aircraft.
A total of 104 Indians were a part of the flight, with most of them from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat.
The repatriation flight and the surrounding controversies in India come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s likely visit to the White House, which could happen as early as next week.
Repatriation of illegal immigrants is the centre-plank of US President Donald J. Trump’s domestic agenda.
The issue of illegal migration by Indians to the US was also brought up during the call between the two leaders last week. India has always maintained that it will welcome any repatriation efforts by the US, provided that the individuals are verified nationals of India.
“Our focus should be on crackdown, strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry while taking steps to ease visas for the legitimate traveller. On the basis of information provided by returning deportees about the agents and others involved, law enforcement agencies will take necessary preventive and exemplary actions,” Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha.
In October last year, another chartered flight from the US brought back more than 100 Indians, who had entered the US illegally. In recent years, the number of Indians being repatriated from the US has increased, given the surge in encounters by American authorities (US Customs and Border Protection).
Between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024, US border authorities apprehended 90,415 Indians who attempted to enter the North American country without proper documents. About 25,616 of those attempted the illegal crossing through the Mexican border while 43,764 made the journey through the Canadian border. The remaining were likely those who entered the country with valid travel documents but overstayed in the US.
In 2023, US border authorities detained 96,917 Indians attempting to enter the country illegally. Indians have become one of the largest groups of people attempting to make the trek into the US illegally in recent years.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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Deportation of Indians from USA is not new, but deportation in a military plane, handcuffed and chained happened only this time. When countries like Columbia, Brazil and Mexico did not allow deportation in military planes, India which calls itself VISHWAGURU can also do that. Shame on Modi govt.
May this be the last US military flight bringing our citizens home. For a government so mindful of optics, another 18,000 landing in C 17s, handcuffed and with leg irons after a 20 – 40 hour long flight would be difficult to live down. The two foreign offices need to agree that this entire process will be handled by the Indian embassy in Washington, at our cost, using chartered civilian aircraft.