According to recent reports, Indian authorities are preparing to repatriate about 18,000 Indian immigrants living in the United States illegally.
“People who are familiar with this matter” informed Bloomberg reported that the Indian government stands ready to work with President Donald Trump and his administration to “identify and bring back all citizens” who entered the United States illegally.
“As part of the India-US cooperation on immigration and movement, both countries are engaged in processes to deter illegal immigration,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs, told Bloomberg. “This is being done to create more avenues for legal immigration from India to the United States.”
The majority of Indians living in the United States illegally are reportedly “young people from western India.”
Bloomberg said the U.S. has identified about 18,000 Indian immigrants who are in the country illegally, although the actual number “could be much higher.” The Indian government is reportedly preparing to “verify and begin deportation proceedings.”
Bloomberg noted that “in return” for cooperation with the United States, the Indian government “hopes that the Trump administration will protect the legal routes of entry” that its citizens use to come to the United States.
In return for cooperation, India wants the Trump administration to protect the legal routes its citizens use to enter the United States, such as student visas and the H-1B program for skilled workers. Indian nationals accounted for nearly three-quarters of the 386,000 H-1B visas issued in 2023, according to official data.
India on Monday passed the Laken-Reilly Act in the Senate and is preparing to repatriate thousands of illegal Indian immigrants living in the United States. Under the Laken-Riley Act, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required to detain undocumented immigrants who are charged, arrested, or convicted of crimes such as robbery, theft, shoplifting, and theft.
Under the Laken-Riley Act, state governments also authorized “Bringing a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief against certain alleged federal immigration-related decisions or failures when those decisions or failures harm a state or its residents.”
