AMRITSAR, India — On Wednesday, a U.S. military aircraft landed in a northern Indian city, bringing back 104 Indian migrants who were deported from the United States. This marks the first flight of its kind under a strict immigration enforcement policy initiated during the Trump administration, according to officials at the airport.
The Indian nationals on board the flight had illegally entered the United States over several years, coming from various regions across India. This development comes just ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Washington, anticipated next week. During a recent phone conversation, U.S. President Donald Trump and Modi discussed issues surrounding immigration, with Trump underlining the necessity for India to enhance its purchases of American security equipment and ensure equitable trade between the two nations.
India has demonstrated its willingness to work cooperatively with the United States in this matter, signaling that it is prepared to accept these deported individuals following thorough verification processes. New Delhi is firmly against illegal immigration, particularly as it often correlates with organized crime, and has not raised objections to the U.S. action of deporting its citizens.
“Our position is that any Indian national, regardless of their location, if they are overstaying or residing in any country without proper documentation, we are committed to accepting them back,” explained Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, in a statement last month. He added, “We will move forward with the process as long as the proper documentation is provided to confirm their nationality.”
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that deportation flights serve as an effective measure to counteract the ongoing issue of illegal migration, which he described as harmful and destabilizing. The State Department emphasized that these deportations are meant to act as a deterrent for those considering illegal migration.
India’s junior External Affairs Minister, Kirti Vardhan Singh, reported to Parliament that from November 2023 to October 2024, 519 Indian nationals had been deported back to India, according to data from the U.S. government. He mentioned that the U.S. typically conducts deportations using both commercial and charter flights.
The recent utilization of U.S. military resources to facilitate repatriation is a relatively new practice implemented under the Trump administration. A report from the Pew Research Center highlighted that, as of 2022, India held the third position after Mexico and El Salvador regarding the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States, with an estimated 725,000 individuals.
There has been a notable increase in the number of Indians attempting to cross into the U.S. via the U.S.-Canada border. In the year concluding on September 30, U.S. Border Patrol apprehended over 14,000 Indians crossing this border, which represented 60% of all arrests in that area, marking more than a tenfold increase compared to two years prior.
Reports suggest that a significant portion of those undocumented Indians in the U.S. hails from the Punjab and Gujarat regions, and in 2024, Indians comprised approximately 3% of all unlawful border crossings into the U.S. As of last November, the Indian Express cited data indicating that there were around 20,407 undocumented Indians in the United States facing final removal orders or currently held in detention centers operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
