US repatriates undocumented migrants from India | Latest news India

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted a “charter removal flight” to return an unspecified number of Indian nationals who could not “establish a legal basis” to remain in the United States, according to an official statement.

The statement, issued by the US embassy, ​​did not say how many Indian nationals were on the flight that operated on October 22. People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that the result was the deportation of the Indian nationals on a chartered flight. of continued bilateral cooperation to deter illegal migration.

“On October 22, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducted a chartered removal flight to the Republic of India of Indian nationals who have not established a legal basis for to remain in the United States,” the statement said.

The move demonstrated DHS’s “continued commitment to pursue sustained cooperation with the Indian government and other international partners to reduce and deter irregular migration and work together to combat people smuggling,” the statement said.

The people quoted above said India and the US are committed to deterring illegal migration as part of cooperation on migration and mobility. “This is being done to create more avenues for legal migration from India to the US,” one of the people said.

“The latest deportation of Indian nationals on a chartered flight is the result of this cooperation. Such deportations have been going on for several years,” the person added.

The U.S. statement said DHS quickly returns people without a legal basis to remain in the United States as part of efforts to enforce immigration laws and “bring harsh consequences to those who enter (the country) illegally.”

“Since June 2024, when the Presidential Border Security Proclamation and accompanying Interim Final Rule went into effect, encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border have decreased by 55 percent,” the statement said.

“Indian nationals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States are subject to expedited removal, and intending migrants should not fall for the lies of traffickers who claim otherwise,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie A Canegallo.

Since June of this year, DHS has removed or returned more than 160,000 people and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to more than 145 countries, including India. Other countries where DHS has removed people in the past year include Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Egypt, Mauritania, Senegal, Uzbekistan, and China.

DHS works with foreign governments to accept the repatriation of their citizens without a legal basis to remain in the US. It also promotes the use of safe, legal and orderly migration routes and holds “transnational criminal networks accountable for smuggling and exploiting vulnerable people”.