Washington, February 4. New Delhi’s proactive stance in streamlining illegal immigration and legal action in the US is being appreciated. Meanwhile, a US C-17 military aircraft took off from Texas for India on Tuesday carrying about 200 illegal immigrants.
This is Washington’s first action against illegal Indian immigrants after Donald Trump assumed the presidency last month.
This step was taken after a detailed discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump on phone on January 27 and ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s upcoming visit to Washington on February 13-14.
Similar deportation flights departed for Guatemala, Peru, Honduras and other countries from January 24.
The US President has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, which has been a major issue of his presidential election campaign.
Within hours of taking office for the second time, Trump had decided to end birthright citizenship and deployed troops at the US-Mexico border.
Former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla recently told IANS, “New Delhi has been proactive in saying that we have no reason to support illegal immigration and we will help in the deportation of those who have been identified by our authorities as Indian citizens, as in the past.”
After the phone conversation on January 27, the US President had said that India will “do what is right” on the issue of deportation of illegal immigrants.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar had said that New Delhi is ready for the “legitimate return” of Indian citizens living “illegally” abroad, including in the US.
