US Targets Indian Travel Agents with Visa Bans as Part of Immigration Policy
New Delhi: The United States on Monday announced visa restrictions on unidentified Indian travel agents for “knowingly” facilitating illegal immigration, invoking a provision under a law that bars entry if it could lead to “serious adverse foreign policy consequences”.
So far, India appears to be the first country whose travel operators have been targeted with visa restrictions by the Donald Trump administration.
The US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated that the visa restrictions are being imposed on “owners, executives, and senior officials of travel agencies based and operating in India for knowingly facilitating illegal immigration to the United States”.
In a press release, Bruce added that the US embassy’s consular affairs division and the diplomatic security service in India are working “every day” to “identify and target” those involved in such activities.
“Our immigration policy aims not only to inform foreign nationals about the dangers of illegal immigration to the United States but also to hold accountable individuals who violate our laws, including facilitators of illegal immigration,” she said.
The State department spokesperson stated that the visa restrictions were taken under section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under this section,
U.S. Secretary of State can assess to deny entry to a non-citizen if their presence or activities in the United States would have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences”.
However, the names of the individuals who are being targeted will not be made public due to visa record confidentiality, it is learnt.
Since the start of the Trump administration’s second term, which has made a hardline stance on immigration one of its central platforms, undocumented Indian migrants have emerged as a key focus for US officials – beginning with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first meeting with Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar.
Two weeks after President Trump’s second inauguration, a US Army aircraft carrying 104 undocumented Indian nationals landed in Amritsar – the first such deportation flight outside the Americas under the current administration. The flight sparked political controversy in India after it emerged that several deportees, including women, had been shackled during the 40-hour journey.
According to Indian government figures, three military aircraft brought 333 Indian nationals back to India in February. However, the US soon suspended the use of military planes for these deportation operations, as the flights – each costing around USD 2 million, according to the Wall Street Journal – proved too expensive.
Subsequently, deportees were first sent to detention centres in Panama and Ecuador before being flown to India on commercial flights. Around 300 Indian nationals are believed to have returned through this route.
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