The Trump administration has intensified its crackdown on undocumented migrants, with a US military plane departing for India on Monday. The flight is part of the administration’s efforts to deport migrants who entered the US illegally.
According to officials, the C-17 plane will not return to the US for at least 24 hours. This move is in line with Trump’s immigration agenda, which prioritizes national security, economic concerns, and the rule of law. The US has identified around 18,000 illegal Indian migrants for deportation, following an agreement with the Indian government.
However, the number of passengers on the outgoing flight is still unknown. Over 5,000 migrants are transferred from El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California, to India, the farthest destination for US military flights that deport illegal immigrants.
In the past, migrants have been flown to Honduras, Guatemala, and Peru. Approximately 18,000 un-documented Indian nationals are among the 1.5 million people targeted for deportation, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
After Mexico and El Salvador, India has the third-largest population of un-documented immigrants in the United States, with about 725,000 people living there illegally. As part of his immigration emergency declaration, US President Donald Trump began military deportation flights last week.
Six flights have been dispatched to Latin America thus far. Trump has promised to implement the biggest deportation operation in US history in an effort to combat illegal immigration.
“For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came,” Trump said last month.
Trump said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “will do what’s right” in terms of repatriating illegal immigrants from India following a phone conversation with the prime minister. Additionally, S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, stated that India was examining who from the US could be sent there, however it was not yet clear how many of these individuals would be sent.
He continued by saying that it is commonly known that when criminal activity occurs, it frequently encourages the development of further illegal activity, which is very undesirable. Reputations can be severely damaged by such circumstances.
As a result, they have always maintained in every nation, including the US, that if any of their citizens are present unlawfully and they can verify that they are indeed their countrymen, they are still open to allowing them to return to India legally, he said.
