Ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump assuming office next month, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has already drawn up a list of individuals slated for deportation, and nearly 18,000 undocumented Indians find themselves facing the prospect of being sent back home.
The ICE data till Nov 2024 released recently shows that 17,940 Indians are among the 14,45,000 individuals on the non-detained docket with final orders of removal from the US.
According to a report, thousands of undocumented Indians in the US are facing difficulties in legalising their status, often waiting years for ICE clearance. Many have case hearings scheduled two to three years into the future. Alarmingly, an average of 90,000 Indians were apprehended while attempting to illegally cross US borders over the past three financial years of the US. Local immigration experts say that people from Punjab, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh likely form the majority of undocumented Indians in the US.
According to ICE document, Honduras, a country in Central America, tops the list with 261,000 undocumented individuals who have been identified for deportation, followed by Guatemala, another Central American country, with 253,000 illegal immigrants.
China is ahead of India in Asia, with 37,908 undocumented people living in the US. India stands 13th on the list which ranks 208 nations. Excluding China and India, the top 15 countries are either closer in proximity to the US or share land or sea borders with it. The ICE document has categorised India as “uncooperative”, citing delays in coordination by Indian authorities, further complicating the deportation process. Diplomatic measures are being explored to address these challenges as part of the enforcement strategy.
The document outlines that the US govt expects foreign govts to confirm the citizenship of individuals believed to be their nationals. “This includes conducting interviews, issuing travel documents on time, and accepting the physical return of their nationals by scheduled commercial or charter flights consistent with ICE and/or foreign govt removal guidelines,” said the document. Lack of cooperation from countries in accepting the return of their nationals may lead to ICE classifying those countries as uncooperative or at risk of non-compliance. “Currently, ICE considers 15 countries to be uncooperative: Bhutan, Burma, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Laos, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Russia, Somalia and Venezuela,” reads the document.
