New Delhi: Over 1,100 Indians who illegally entered America have been repatriated in the last year, with the last flight bringing in 100 passengers to Punjab on 22 October, US Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy Royce Murray said in a briefing Tuesday.
In a response to a query from ThePrint, Murray said, “In the fiscal year 2024, US repatriated over 1,100 Indian nationals… The number of such flights has seen an increase due to the general increase in encounters of Indians (by Customs and Border Patrol) that have accelerated recently.”
“In this flight (22 October), passengers deplaned in Punjab. Such flights are designed to ensure people have easier access to their place of origin, but do not represent where they come from,” Murray clarified.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed Friday that it had conducted a “large-frame charter removal flight” sending back Indian nationals.
The assistant secretary was present in India last Tuesday and witnessed the deplaning in Punjab. The passengers consisted of adult men and women, Murray said at the press briefing.
Since June this year, the US has repatriated over 1,60,000 individuals, operating nearly 500 flights to 145 countries, including India.
From 1 October 2023 to 30 September this year, a total of 90,415 Indian nationals were caught by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) attempting to enter the country irregularly, through the two land border crossings or in some cases overstaying visas.
According to data published by the CBP, 25,616 Indian nationals attempted to enter the US via the Southwestern land border (Mexico), and 43,764 Indians tried to come in through Canada in the north. The remaining were most likely those who entered with valid travel documents but overstayed in the country.
While Indians attempting to enter the US irregularly decreased in 2024 from 2023, the number still remained the highest since 2021. In 2023, a total of 96,917 Indians tried to enter via irregular means — the highest in the last four years.
According to Murray, those with legal permanent residency who committed a major crime were eligible to be repatriated as well.
No specifics were, however, shared during the press briefing. While about 100 people were returned on 22 October, the US government has also been repatriating individuals on commercial flights and also smaller charter flights. It is unclear how many such flights have been operated between America and India in the last year.
“The repatriation of individuals is not at all related to other judicial proceedings that are ongoing in the US relating to different matters,” said Murray, to a question on whether such flights were due to the ongoing investigations into an alleged murder-for-hire plot against Sikh separatist and India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, which was foiled by American authorities in 2023.
The Indian government is investigating whether any of its officials were involved in the foiled plot, with one former employee named in an US Justice Department indictment as the alleged mastermind behind the attempt to kill Pannun.
In December 2023, French authorities had grounded a chartered plane consisting of 303 passengers, mostly Indians, in what was likely a case of human trafficking.
Murray pointed to the cooperation between the Indian government and the US in ensuring the smooth repatriation of Indian nationals.
source : The Print