The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Earlier this week, the US Department of Homeland Security operated a “large-frame charter removal flight” to deport Indian citizens who had entered the United States illegally back to India.
A press statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sated that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had “conducted a large-frame charter removal flight to the Republic of India of Indian nationals who did not establish legal basis to remain in the United States” on October 22.
Unlike the phrases in vogue in India in political statements, official documents or even court rulings, the US press release refers to the persons being deported as “Indian nationals who did not establish legal basis to remain in the United States.”
In India, Union home minister Amit Shah has used the word “termites” to refer to Bangladeshi migrants, while he and other ministers regularly refer to undocumented migrants from that country as “infiltrators”.
According to the US readout, the charter flight was done with assistance with the Indian government.
“This week’s flight demonstrates the Department’s continued commitment to pursuing sustained cooperation with the Indian government and other international partners to reduce and deter irregular migration and jointly work to counter human smuggling,” said the DHS statement.
The Acting Deputy Secretary of DHS, Kristie A. Canegallo, said that “Indian nationals without a legal basis to remain in the United States are subject to swift removal, and intending migrants should not fall for the lies of smugglers who proclaim otherwise”
Pointing out that US has conducted such deportations for several years, Indian official sources said that they were fine with the DHS publicising the deportation as they had done this time.
Asserting that Indian government doesn’t support illegal migration, sources noted that discouraging such attempts through publicity will help foster an environment with foreign governments to encourage the facilitation of legal migration for Indian professionals.
“As part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration. This is being done to create more avenues for legal migration from India to the US. The latest deportation of Indian nationals by a chartered flight is a result of this cooperation,” the sources said.
The DHS readout claimed that 160,000 individuals were returned and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to over 145 countries, including India.
According to the latest statistics from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 90,415 Indian nationals were apprehended for illegal migration between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024, decreasing slightly from the previous year. In total, US authorities detained 2.9 million foreign nationals on illegal migration charges during this period.
The Times of India reported that “roughly 50 percent” of the Indian nationals caught were from Gujarat. Further, nearly half of the Indians were caught at the northern border with Canada. In contrast, the number of Indians apprehended at the Mexico border saw a sharp decline this year compared to the previous year.