Deportation shadow falls on 18,000 Indians living 'illegally' in US

India will be verifying documents of around 18,000 of its nationals, who are in a queue to be deported for living ‘illegally’ in the US. The list has been shared by the US, sources said, adding, “if they are found to be Indian nationals they would be accepted back”.

The Donald Trump administration — which rode to power by promising, among other things, deporting illegals from the US -- has officially taken up the matter of deporting around 18,000 Indian nationals back to the country.

The number of possible deportations could go up to 2 lakh, with more cases of illegal immigrants being detected in the US.

A large number of illegal immigration to the US is by the people from Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat.

Sources in India said the verification and deportation is an ongoing process, adding that India has never stood for illegal immigration. “Anybody who is an Indian national and found to be living illegally in the US, and his or her documents are found in order, will be accepted back,” sources said.

The issue of illegal immigration was flagged on Tuesday by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

A US State Department statement said Rubio expressed a desire of the Trump Administration to ‘work with India to advance economic ties’ and address concerns related to irregular immigration.

Any slack on India's part in taking back illegal immigrants could potentially impact legal immigration from India.

New Delhi, in the past, has backed legal immigration that is student visa and H-1B visas – a large proportion of which go to Indian citizens.

Indian citizens accounted for almost three-fourths of the 386,000 H-1B visas granted in 2023, according to official US data.

The crackdown on illegal immigration has been a signature campaign pledge for Trump. Within hours of his inauguration on Monday, the US President moved to fulfil that promise as he pushed to end birthright citizenship and mobilise troops on the US-Mexico border.