A United States military flight carrying illegal migrants departed for India on Monday. This comes as the Donald Trump administration steps up its crackdown on undocumented immigrants, an official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the C-17 aircraft had left for India with migrants on board. However, it would not arrive for at least 24 hours.
Trump had promised to carry out the largest deportation in US history. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has prepared a list of nearly 18,000 undocumented Indian nationals among 1.5 million individuals facing deportation. It was unclear how many were on the departing flight.
Around 725,000 illegal immigrants from India live in the US. This makes them the third-largest group of unauthorised immigrants after those from Mexico and El Salvador, according to Pew Research Centre data.
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Last month, New Delhi stated it had always been open to the lawful return of undocumented Indians. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India was verifying who could be deported. However, he added that the exact number was yet to be determined.
"With every country, and the US is no exception, we have always maintained that if any of our citizens are there illegally, and if we are sure they are our citizens, we have always been open to their legitimate return to India," Jaishankar said.
In January, Trump stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "will do what's right" regarding deported Indian immigrants. His remarks followed a phone conversation with Modi in which they discussed various issues.
The Pentagon has also started using military aircraft to deport over 5,000 immigrants held in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California. So far, military flights have transported migrants to Guatemala, Peru, and Honduras.
The US government continues to enforce strict immigration policies. The latest deportations indicate an increasing focus on returning undocumented individuals to their home countries. The impact of these measures on US-India relations remains to be seen.
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