India hopes to deter illegal immigration to US after mass deportations
New Delhi said the recent deportation of over 1000 illegal Indian immigrants were an outcome of “regular consular dialogue” between India and the US.
India on Saturday said it is working with the United States “to create more avenues for legal immigration”, news agency ANI reported.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal also termed the recent mass deportation of illegal Indian immigrants from the US as an outcome of “regular consular dialogue and arrangement” with that country.
The MEA spokesperson also said that it continues to hold “regular consular dialogue” and make necessary “arrangements” on immigration and mobility of people between the two countries.
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“As part of this, our regular consular dialogue and arrangement - we have facilitated the movement of people who are staying in the United States illegally... This has been going on for some time and we hope that with this cooperation and our engagement with the United States on mobility and migration, we will be able to deter illegal immigration,” the MEA added in its statement.
The Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday that the US deported more than 1,100 illegal immigrants from India between October 2023 and September 2024.
Royce Murray, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said, there has been a “steady increase” in deportations of illegal Indian immigrants from the US in recent years.
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Murray also thanked the Indian government for its cooperation to deter illegal immigration.
“We are continuing to strengthen our working relationship with the government of India across a range of issues and welcome the partnership that we have had and know we will continue to have so that we can better address the challenges [such as] the use of human smugglers or unscrupulous travel agencies that are preying on vulnerable migrants and providing them with false information,” she said.
A senior American official also called for more awareness about the consequences of using unlawful immigration pathways and the role of unscrupulous travel agents.
(With ANI inputs)