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Trump administration has returned over 300 Indians this month. The US has deported a fourth batch of illegal Indian immigrants, with 12 people arriving in Delhi via Panama, days after prime minister Narendra Modi met president Donald Trump in Washington.
The 12 Indians are believed to be among the 299 illegal migrants deported by the US to Panama a few days ago. Of the 12, four deportees from Punjab reached Amritsar on Sunday, officials said. Amritsar’s deputy commissioner, Sakshi Sawhney, confirmed their arrival, saying they were from Gurdaspur, Patiala, and Jalandhar districts.
The US has deported over 300 illegal migrants to India this month as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, in keeping with a key campaign promise. The first deportation flight with 104 people, handcuffed and shackled, arrived in the northern state of Punjab on 5 February. Two more flights landed in the middle of the month.
Facing criticism over the treatment meted out by American authorities to the deportees, India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar said New Delhi had been engaging with Washington to ensure they were treated fairly. He said the deportation of illegal immigrants was not a new phenomenon and had been ongoing for years.
Illegal immigrants make up three per cent of the US population and 22 per cent of the foreign-born population. The exact number of undocumented Indians in the US was disputed due to varying calculation methods. Estimates for 2022 range from 700,000, according to the Pew Research Center and Center for Migration Studies of New York, making Indians the third-largest undocumented group, to 375,000 according to the Migration Policy Institute, ranking them fifth.
The Department of Homeland Security data from 2022 reports 220,000 unauthorised Indians in the country. Between 2009 and 2024, the US deported some 16,000 Indians, according to the foreign ministry. Annual deportations averaged 750 under Barack Obama, 1,550 during Mr Trump’s first term and 900 under Joe Biden.
Deportations surged between 2023 and 2024, but the highest number was in 2020, with nearly 2,300 migrants sent back to the country. Mr Modi previously said India would repatriate its citizens who were in the US illegally and take action against the “human trafficking ecosystem”.
“These are children of very ordinary families, and they are lured by big dreams and promises," he said during his visit to Washington. The deportations have sparked a political storm in India, with the opposition Congress party criticising the ruling Modi government for remaining silent while Indians are “humiliated”.
“Modi government must come out with a detailed statement on the deportation and why did we not send our own planes to bring back the Indians, with dignity and respect, instead of a military plane landing on our soil,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said earlier in a post on X.
