Ahead of the US elections on 5 November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has deported a large number of Indian nationals, who lacked the appropriate permits and documentation to reside in the country. They returned to India on October 22 using a chartered flight.
“On October 22, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducted a large-frame charter removal flight to the Republic of India of Indian nationals who did not establish legal basis to remain in the United States,” the official statement from the US government read.
According to the agency, this week’s flight shows the Department’s ongoing dedication to securing ongoing collaboration with the Indian government and other foreign partners in order to lessen and discourage irregular migration and cooperatively combat human smuggling.
Kristie A. Canegallo, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, informed that Indian nationals, who do not have a legitimate reason to stay in the US, are “subject to swift removal, and intending migrants should not fall for the lies of smugglers who proclaim otherwise.”
The DHS further asserted that it is still enforcing US immigration rules and that those who enter the nation illegally face severe penalties. In addition to promoting the adoption of legal routes, it said that this entails promptly repatriating individuals who lack a valid reason to stay in the US.
DHS has deported people to a number of nations, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Egypt, Mauritania, Senegal, Uzbekistan, the PRC, and India, throughout the past year, the statement continued. Due to these efforts, DHS expanded removal flight operations and returned more people in FY2024 than in any other year since FY2010, the agency said.
The United States and India are working together on migration and mobility in a bid to discourage illegal migration.
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US has removed or returned over 160,000 individuals
Unauthorised immigration attempts between ports of entry along the southwest border have dropped by 55 per cent since June 2024, when the Securing the Border Presidential Proclamation and related Interim Final Rule went into effect in the United States, according to the DHS statement.
The DHS has conducted more than 495 foreign repatriation flights to over145 countries, including India, and removed or returned more than 160,000 people since June 2024.
While 25,616 Indians attempted to cross the border from Mexico into the southern United States between October 2023 and September 2024, 43,764 Indians tried to cross the border from Canada into the United States. The other Indians most likely overstayed their visas or flew into American airports.
In the past two years, over 1,86,000 Indian people have made an illegal migration attempt to the United States, according to American authorities.
Indians have tried to immigrate to the US in historically high numbers in recent years. The United States authorities classified 96,917 Indians as attempting to enter America illegally in 2023, the largest number in a single year since 2021.
In 2021, 30,662 Indian nationals attempted to enter the United States illegally, according to data released by the US government. However, the figure surged by three times of that in 2023 and 2024.
Trump blasts Harris over immigration influx
Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday addressed a rally in Austin, Texas, where he criticised Vice President Kamala Harris for her stance on immigration and border security, repeating a number of false claims.
During a campaign event at an airplane hangar, Trump declared, “We’re here today in the great state of Texas … which, under Kamala Harris, has been turned into ground zero for the largest border invasion in the history of the world.”
“Over the past four years, this state has become Kamala’s staging ground to import her army of migrant gangs and illegal alien criminals into every state in America” Trump stated without evidence.
