The Trump administration repatriated its first planeload of Indian nationals Wednesday as 104 men were loaded aboard a military plane bound for the subcontinent.
The U.S. flight carrying the migrants who illegally entered the U.S. landed in Amristar, a city in the northern Indian State of Punjab, not far from Lahore, Pakistan.
The first flight came after India agreed to accept their citizens once U.S. officials confirm identities and immigration status, according to ABC News.
First batch of Indians going back. pic.twitter.com/GP8NiF2UhY
— Black Capital (@Blackcapitalis) February 4, 2025
“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 that they are indeed Indians,” said India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal.
“If that happens to be the case, then we will take things forward. We will facilitate the return to India,” Jaiswal added.
Jaiswal also noted that some of these illegal migrants are members of organized crime in India. He insisted that India is “firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is linked to other forms of organized crime.”
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“As part of India-US migration and mobility cooperation, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration, while also creating more avenues for legal migration from India to the US. We are keen to continue this cooperation,” Jaiswal said.
Still, the Biden administration had celebrated its increase of both legal and illegal migrants from India who came to the U.S. seeking under-the-table jobs. Indeed, Biden’s ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, boasted about increasing the number of migrants from India to the U.S. by 60 percent. This brought nearly two million Indian nationals looking for U.S. jobs. Garcetti added that five million Indian nationals have U.S. work visas.
But tens of thousands of Indian nationals also pay human smugglers to get them into the U.S. illegally.
Human Smuggler Testifies He Brought 500 Indian Migrants Across U.S.-Canada Border in Four Years https://t.co/j283C87uel
— BreitbartTexas (@BreitbartTexas) November 25, 2024
According to Pew Research, there are approximately 7,25,000 Indian nationals living illegally in the U.S. and they are mainly from Punjab and Gujarat states. Indians make up about three percent of illegal border crossers. There are also about 20,500 Indians currently under removal orders by U.S. immigration officials.
Federal data indicates that 5,477 Indian nationals have been deported between 2018 and 2023.
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