US Deports 205 Illegal Indian Immigrants in Military Aircraft

New Delhi: In a move highlighting the priority of the Trump administration to deport illegal immigrants, an American C-17 Boeing Globemaster military transport aircraft took off from San Antonio, Texas, with 205 illegal Indian immigrants on board to transport them back, according to global news agency reports that cited US officials. According to media reports, the flight is expected to land in Amritsar on Wednesday morning.

The deportation comes just a few days ahead of the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States, where he will hold talks with United States President Donald Trump. Media reports cited sources to claim that India had verified the Indian nationality of all 205 persons who are being deported.

This is perhaps the first time, as per reports, that the US has deployed its military aircraft for such a deportation exercise to India when it had earlier utilised chartered or commercial aircraft. This follows similar deportations by the US to countries in Latin and South America.

New Delhi had, till late Tuesday evening, not commented on the reports. However, a US embassy spokesperson, while not confirming the reported deportation, said, "I can’t share any details...but I can share, on the record, the United States is vigorously enforcing its border, tightening immigration laws and removing illegal migrants. These actions send a clear message: illegal migration is not worth the risk."

As reported earlier, a list drawn up by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sometime last year has reportedly estimated that 14.5 lakhs illegal immigrants are slated for deportation from the US, among which 18,000 are allegedly Indians. Mr Trump has already signalled that the US will get much tougher now on illegal immigration. Even under the previous Biden administration, the American authorities had said last year that the US had deported more than 1,100 Indian nationals back over the past year through charter removal flights and also through commercial flights.

Meanwhile, global news agency reports cited a White House official as saying that Mr Trump had invited Mr Modi to the White House next week. As per earlier reports, the Prime Minister is set to fly to the US on February 12 for a two-day visit immediately after he completes his three-day visit to France from February 10 to 12. New Delhi has so far not officially announced the dates of the visit.

Last week, the US President had announced the Prime Minister would visit the US in February. On American concerns over Indian illegal immigrants in the US, Mr Trump was also quoted as saying that India will do “what is right”.

Last month, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had held a bilateral meeting with new American secretary of state Marco Rubio. After that meeting, the US had said, “Mr Rubio also emphasised the Trump administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration.”

On American concerns about illegal immigration, Mr Jaishankar, after the meeting with Mr Rubio, had said that India had always been open to a legitimate return of Indian illegal immigrants but had cautioned that New Delhi will need to "validate and verify" the Indian identity of each and every one of these persons before they return.

In response to a query on a reported American list that has 18,000 illegal Indian immigrants in the US for deportation, the foreign minister had advised caution on numbers, saying that numbers become "operative" only if their identities as Indians are verified. Mr Jaishankar had further reiterated that India does not support illegal immigration and supports only lawful migration through Migration and Mobility Agreements (inked earlier with several countries).