Indian officials are preparing to repatriate roughly 18,000 Indian migrants who have been living in the United States illegally, according to a recent report.
“People familiar with the matter” informed Bloomberg that the Indian government is prepared to work with President Donald Trump and his administration to “identify and take back all its citizens” who have been in the U.S. illegally.
“As part of India-US cooperation on migration and mobility, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration,” Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, told Bloomberg. “This is being done to create more avenues for legal migration from India to the US.”
The majority of the Indians who have been living in the U.S. illegally are reportedly “youth from western India.”
While the actual number “could be much higher,” Bloomberg said the U.S. has identified roughly 18,000 Indian migrants who have been living in the country illegally. The Indian government is reportedly preparing to “verify and start the process of deportation.”
Bloomberg noted that “in return” for India’s cooperation with the U.S., the Indian government “hopes that the Trump administration” will “protect legal immigration channels” that its citizens use to come to the U.S.:
In return for its cooperation, India hopes that the Trump administration would protect legal immigration channels used by its citizens to enter the US such as student visas and the H-1B program for skilled workers. Indian citizens accounted for almost three-fourths of the 386,000 H-1B visas granted in 2023, according to official data.
India preparing to repatriate thousands of illegal Indian migrants living in the U.S. comes as the Senate passed the Laken Riley Act on Monday. Under the Laken Riley Act, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required to take illegal migrants who have been charged, arrested, or convicted of crimes such as burglary, theft, shoplifting, or larceny into custody.
Under the Laken Riley Act, state governments are also authorized to “sue for injunctive relief over certain immigration-related decisions or alleged failures by the federal government if the decision or failure caused the state or its residents harm.”
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