India on Friday said that the United States has identified another 487 illegal Indian migrants living in the country, who are set to be deported soon.
“We’ve been told there are 487 presumed Indian citizens with final removal orders,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said while addressing the press briefing. In a special briefing, Misri said that the documents of 298 people have been shared for verification with Indian Government by the American authorities.
He also assured that the Indian government is in communication with the Trump administration to ensure the safe return of those identified as illegal immigrants.
The Foreign Secretary further said that it has raised the issue of deportation of Indians who entered US illegally asserting that deportees should have been treated properly.
“We are in touch with the American officials over this. We are in constant touch with them, and we have always said that the people, including those who have been deported, should be properly behaved with,” Misri said.
Misri further emphasised that the root cause of the illegal migration is the gangs who are working to send people illegally. The Foreign Secretary reiterated External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks that deportation is not a change from past.
“The description by the EAM of the standard operating procedure relating to the use of restraints which has been communicated to us by US authorities including the immigration and customs enforcement. EAM attracted attention to the fact that these have been in practice for a long period of time…On the issue of mistreatment, it is a valid issue to raise and we continue to emphasise to US authorities that there should be no mistreatment of deportees…We will continue to take up any instances of mistreatment that come to our attention. Action needs to be taken across the system against the underlying ecosystem that thrives on promoting illegal immigration…” he said.
Misri also revealed that it is hard to give exact numbers of more Indians returning in days to come. He said that the authorities are close communication with US in this matter and as soon as the information is provided, the due diligence and process would be followed.
What EAM Jaishankar Said On Deportation?
EAM Jaishankar on Thursday said in Rajya Sabha that the deportation of Indians who entered US illegally is not a change from past. He shared the list of such deportations since 2009.
The Union Minister further called upon crackdown on illegal migration industry. Jaishankar said that the government is finding out how illegal migration happened. “…It is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad,” he further said.
Citing data available with Indian law enforcement authorities, the minister said in 2009, 734 were deported, 799 in 2010, 597 in 2011, 530 in 2012, and 515 in 2013.
As per Jaishankar’s statement, in 2014 when the NDA government came to power, 591 were deported, followed by 708 in 2015. In 2016, a total of 1,303 were deported, 1,024 in 2017, 1,180 in 2018.
The highest deportation was witnessed in 2019 with 2,042 illegal Indian immigrants being sent back to the country. In 2020 the deportation number was 1,889; 805 in 2021; 862 in 2022; 617 in 2023; 1,368 last year, and 104 so far this year.
Jaishankar said deportations by the US are organised and executed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities and “the standard operating procedure for deportations by aircraft used by ICE that is effective from 2012, provides for the use of restraints”.
