A US Air Force plane carrying more than 100 Indian immigrants deported from the United States arrived in India on Wednesday, local media reported. Thousands of undocumented immigrants have been arrested since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, including some accused of crimes.
An AFP photographer in the northern city of Amritsar saw a US military plane land, and Indian media reported that it was carrying 104 Indian migrants. Trump’s executive orders on immigration reform are estimated to affect 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Neither New Delhi nor Washington has commented specifically on the deportations. But a spokesman for the US embassy in India said Washington was “strongly enforcing its borders, tightening immigration laws and removing illegal immigrants.”
“New Delhi is committed to combating illegal immigration, particularly as it is linked to other forms of organized crime,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week. “As part of the India-US Immigration and Mobility Cooperation, both sides are engaged in the process of curbing illegal immigration, while also creating additional pathways for legal immigration from India to the US.”
India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and has one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, yet millions of citizens leave the country every year in search of better opportunities abroad.
Its expatriate community is spread across the world, but the US is still the destination of choice. According to data from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), more than 5,000 Indians were deported from the country between 2018 and 2023.
The US President and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoyed a warm relationship when Trump was in the White House from 2017 to 2021. Critics accuse both of authoritarian tendencies. Indian media has widely reported that Modi is likely to visit Washington next week, where he is expected to meet Trump.
