External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India was open to the US deporting undocumented Indians back to the country, even as President Donald Trump expedites measures to shut down the U.S. southern border to immigration and ramp up deportation.
Jaishankar, who arrived in the US to attend Trump's inauguration, said India was firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration. On whether India was working with the US to deport over 1,80,000 Indians in the US who are there illegally, Jaishankar said: "As a government, we are very much supportive of legal mobility because we do believe in a global workplace. We want Indian talent and Indian skills to have the maximum opportunity at the global level. At the same time, we are also very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration," he added.
He said India's position was not unique to the United States and the country has been "consistent" and "very principled" about illegal migration and that was conveyed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
🚨They are not vetted and mostly young males. This is not immigration; this is an invasion! an attack on the American people:
— Տᗩᑎᗪᖇᗩ🎗️ (@SandraXFreedom) December 13, 2022
Imagine 6.4m illegal migrants in a SINGLE year! Astonishingly, it's about to get easier to enter the UShttps://t.co/RCmFw7p8vn#BorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/WGzKKxNR0j
10 Indians tried to enter US illegally every hour last year; Canada a favourite route. US authorities apprehended 2.9 mn illegal immigrants in Fiscal Year 2024, including 43,764 Indians at the U.S.-Canada border, the highest ever recorded. pic.twitter.com/c0vMP48iKq
— Saba Khan (@ItsKhan_Saba) January 12, 2025
This comes as Trump on the third day of his Presidency signed more executive orders against illegal immigration. The White House said Trump signed an executive order that “suspends the physical entry of aliens engaged in an invasion of the United States through the southern border."
The order directs the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State to take all necessary action to immediately repel, repatriate and remove illegal aliens across the southern border of the United States.
Meanwhile, the U.S. border agents have been told to deport migrants crossing into the country illegally without allowing them to request legal protection, CBS News quoted internal government documents and agency officials.
Two Customs and Border Protection officials told CBS News that migrants will not be allowed to see an immigration judge or asylum officer under the new order. This means that the US obligations under domestic and international law to ensure people fleeing persecution are not returned to danger no longer followed.
One of the officials said Border Patrol agents were directed to swiftly deport migrant adults and families traveling with children under the president's directives, after taking their biometrics and fingerprints. Migrants who are not from Mexico are to be detained pending their deportation. Those with criminal histories are subject to prosecution in the U.S. under a long-standing practice, the official said.
Hours after Trump took office, the CBP One app, previously used by migrants to submit their information and schedule appointments at southwest border ports of entry, stopped working. The appointments scheduled through the app were also cancelled.
