The United States has deported to India a group of Indian nationals who did not have proper legal papers and documentation and could not establish a basis to remain in that country. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that, through US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it conducted a large-frame charter removal flight on 22 October to India of Indian nationals who failed to establish legal basis for continuing to stay in the US.
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‘This week’s flight demonstrates the Department’s continued commitment to pursuing sustained cooperation with the Indian government and other international partners to reduce and deter irregular migration and jointly work to counter human smuggling,” the DHS said in a post on X. It, however, did not name the number of Indian nationals who were deported.

It said the DHS continues to enforce US immigration laws and deliver tough consequences for those who enter unlawfully. This includes swiftly returning those without a legal basis to remain in the US, while encouraging the use of lawful pathways. Since June 2024, when the Securing the Border Presidential Proclamation and accompanying Interim Final Rule went into effect, encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border have decreased by 55 per cent. Since June 2024, the DHS removed or returned over 160,000 individuals and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to more than 145 countries, including India.

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“Indian nationals without a legal basis to remain in the United States are subject to swift removal, and intending migrants should not fall for the lies of smugglers who proclaim otherwise,” said Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie A. Canegallo. “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce our nation’s laws.”

The DHS regularly engages with foreign governments to accept repatriations of their nationals without a legal basis to remain in the US. This is one tool among many DHS uses to reduce irregular migration, promote the use of safe, lawful, and orderly pathways, and hold transnational criminal networks accountable for smuggling and exploitation of vulnerable people.