AMRITSAR: A US Air Force plane carrying more than a hundred Indian migrants expelled by the United States landed in India on Wednesday, local media reported. Thousands of undocumented migrants have been arrested since Trump’s January 20 inauguration, including some accused of crimes. An AFP photographer in the northern city of Amritsar saw the US military aircraft land, with Indian media reporting it was carrying 104 Indian migrants.

Trump’s flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling immigration to the United States is estimated to impact 11 million undocumented migrants. Neither New Delhi nor Washington have commented specifically on the deportations. But a US embassy spokesperson in India said Washington was “vigorously enforcing its border, tightening immigration laws, and removing illegal migrants”.

India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week that New Delhi was “firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is linked to other forms of organized crime”. “As part of India-US migration and mobility cooperation, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration, while also creating more avenues for legal migration from India to the US,” Jaiswal said. India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and enjoys world-beating GDP growth, but hundreds of thousands of its citizens still leave the country each year seeking better opportunities abroad.

While its diaspora spans the globe, the United States remains the destination of choice. According to data from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, over 5,000 Indians were deported from the country between 2018-2023. The US president and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — whom critics both accuse of authoritarian tendencies — enjoyed warm relations when Trump was in the White House from 2017 to 2021. Indian media have widely reported Modi is likely to visit Washington next week, where he is expected to meet with Trump. — AFP