The Hindu explains | How will Trump treat illegal Indians?

A Texas delegate holds a sign during the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17, 2024. Donald Trump has vowed to launch – on day one of his presidency – the largest deportation operation of undocumented immigrants in US history . | Photo credit: AFP

The story so far: On October 22, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flew a “large charter removal flight” to repatriate Indian nationals “who did not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States.” Royce Murray, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at DHS, said the United States had repatriated over 1,100 Indian nationals in the previous fiscal year.

Why were the Indians repatriated?

The US officials maintain that they want to deter “irregular migration” to the US from India, among others, and that the charter flight was in addition to the regular removals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts through commercial flights. The flight was aimed at showing the strong will of the then-poll-bound Joseph Biden administration to enforce immigration laws and provide “tough consequences for those who enter illegally.”

What are the ways that irregular Indian immigrants try to enter the United States?

Indians trying to enter the United States illegally generally try to use the southern US border with Mexico and the Canada-US border in the north. The pressure is more on the Mexico-US border, as several Latin American or Central American countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are known to grant visa-free entry to Indians with US visas for a period of time. Using this facility, some people attempt to stay for extended periods of time in these countries known for their porous borders and facilitate travel to the Texas border using dangerous human trafficking agents and organizations. India has a wide range of visa agreements with these countries that allow extended stays for Indian citizens. For example, Peru is among those waiving visa requirements for Indian nationals for business and tourism purposes for one or more stays totaling up to 180 days per year, provided they have permanent residency or a visa valid for at least six months for Australia, Canada, UK, USA or any Schengen country.

From which states is there a high level of irregular immigration?

The latest US flight carrying the Indian nationals landed in Punjab, a US official told the media, indicating that most of the people on board the particular flight were from Punjab. The Hindu had reported in November 2023 that from November 2022 to September 2023, a record number of Indians – 96,917 – were arrested while crossing illegally into the US, according to US Customs and Border Protection (UCBP) data. The number of Indians attempting to enter the United States has witnessed a fivefold increase since 2019. Available data indicates that Gujarat has provided half of the total illegal immigrants attempting to enter the United States. There have also been several cases of human deaths while trying. to cross the border. In a well-documented case, a family of four – Jagadish Patel, Vaishaliben Patel and their two children, Vihangi and Dharmik, froze to death while trying to cross from Canada to the US

What is meant by legal immigration to the United States?

There are various legally accepted processes through which Indian citizens immigrate to the United States. Each US fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), approximately 1,40,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified individuals under the provisions of US immigration law. Employment-based immigrant visas fall into five “preference categories.” In certain cases, spouses and children may join the applicant. The professionals who fall into the first three categories are persons of extraordinary ability in science, art, education, business or athletics, outstanding professors and researchers with sufficient experience, multinational executives and managers. Professionals with advanced degrees and individuals of extraordinary ability may also apply for legal immigration to the United States. The fourth category is ‘Certain Special Immigrants’, which includes professionals working with broadcast media in the US, certain employees or former employees of the US government, and people from conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan (translators/interpreters). The fifth category includes investors who can start foreign commercial enterprises in the United States

President-elect Donald Trump, who is known to have used terms like “poisoning the blood” on the issue of immigration, has not targeted Indians. In fact, during the final leg of his campaign, he spoke for the protection of the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh, appealing to voters of Indian origin in the United States. As an aside, Vice President-elect JD Vance’s wife Usha Chilukuri Vance is of Indian origin. Most of his focus on immigration is directed towards the cross-border flow from Latin American countries. However, anti-immigration measures under him will be implemented uniformly and will likely hit Indian immigrants as well.

What was Trump’s policy on immigration during his first term?

During his first tenure (2017-2021), President Trump had increased the number of H1B visa denials to Indian professionals. Mr. Trump had issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order on April 18, 2017. Subsequently, the Foreign Affairs Manual contained a directive to consular officials to keep the executive order in mind while deciding to grant visas. According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under President Trump, H1B visa denials for initial services grew rapidly from 13% in 2017 to 21% in 2019. There were also allegations that US consular officials made it extremely difficult for Indian companies to transfer employees from India to the US under the L1 visa category.

Editorial | Desperation in distress: On the attempted migration of Indians to the developed world

During his first term, Mr. Trump given the slogan ‘Build the wall’ in the southern border between the US and Mexico. In the just-concluded presidential election, he focused on stopping illegal immigration and deporting aliens residing illegally in the United States – the number was touted to be in the neighborhood of 11 million. Trump has made a series of speeches about how he plans to deal with this problem, which is supposed to affect the labor market in the United States. 1798 Foreign Enemies Act. However, there is little clarity about how Mr. Trump would address immigration-related concerns that his supporters have shown during the campaign.

Additionally, his anti-immigrant stance will clash with the economic policies of his tech czars who want access to the Indian market. It will be ironic if the Trump presidency opposes the entry of people from markets favored by pro-Trump business magnates.