New Delhi: The deportation of a chartered plane-load of illegal Indian migrants from the US last month has again brought to focus the 2023 Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dunki and how New Delhi and Washington are working to check the problem of human trafficking.
A press release issued on October 25 stated that on October 22, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), “conducted a large-frame charter removal flight to the Republic of India of Indian nationals, who did not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States”.
According to the release, the flight demonstrated the DHS’s “continued commitment to pursuing sustained cooperation with the Indian government and other international partners to reduce and deter irregular migration and jointly work to counter human smuggling”.
“Indian nationals without a legal basis to remain in the United States are subject to swift removal, and intending migrants should not fall for the lies of smugglers who proclaim otherwise,” the press release quoted Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie A Canegallo as saying. “The Department of Homeland Security will continue to enforce our nation’s laws.”
The release further stated that since June 2024, when the Securing the Border Presidential Proclamation and accompanying Interim Final Rule went into effect, encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border of the US have decreased by 55 per cent. Since June 2024, the DHS “removed or returned over 160,000 individuals and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to more than 145 countries - including India”.
Confirming the October 22 development during his weekly media briefing here on Saturday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal explained how India and the US are constantly working together to check the problem of illegal migration by Indians to the US.
“We have regular dialogue with the United States on migration and mobility,” Jaiswal said. “The idea behind that is to create more avenues for legal migration. And as part of our regular consular dialogue and arrangement, we have facilitated the movement of people who are staying in the United States illegally or are part of the irregular movement.”
Pointing out that this process has been going on for some time now, he stated: “We hope that this cooperation and our engagement with the United States on mobility and migration will be able to deter illegal immigration.”
Illegal migration from India to the US has been an ongoing challenge, with complex socio-economic drivers and intricate pathways that people use to cross borders without authorisation. This issue has raised significant concerns for both governments, not only because of the individuals’ safety risks but also due to the strain it places on the immigration systems and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A large number of illegal Indian migrants come from rural and economically underdeveloped regions of India, where job opportunities are limited, and wage levels are low. For many, the prospect of better job opportunities and the chance to improve their living standards in the US is alluring.
Human trafficking organisations often exploit individuals’ desperation, promising entry to the US for a high price. Migrants are frequently subjected to unsafe conditions, exploitation, and violence, especially when they attempt to cross the US border through dangerous routes. As the movie Dunki portrays, illegal migration by using treacherous land routes endangers people’s lives.
Many Indian migrants pay traffickers or “agents” large sums of money to reach the US through Latin American countries, particularly Mexico. The route often involves air travel to countries with lenient visa policies for Indian passport holders, followed by dangerous overland journeys.
It is given this that India and the US engage in regular dialogue to check this illegal practice. In February this year, during the 11th Bilateral Consular Dialogue held in New Delhi, India and the US discussed ways of enhancing cooperation on a wide range of issues such as extradition, mobility of students and professionals, safe and legal migration and protection of vulnerable women and children.
“The dialogue reinforced the strong people-to-people ties and cooperation that both countries share across consular issues of mutual interest,” the US Embassy here had said in a press release. “Both sides discussed ways of enhancing cooperation on a wide range of issues such as extradition, mobility of students and professionals, safe and legal migration, protection of vulnerable women and children and enabling smooth travel of their respective nationals.”
Though the exact number of illegal Indian migrants deported on board the October 22 flight is not known, DHS Assistant Secretary Royce Bernstein Murray, during a media briefing earlier this week, stated that “large-scale charter flights typically have over 100 individuals on board to be removed”.
Murray also stated that the plane landed in in Punjab, which was designed to ensure that people in general may be closer to their place of origin. “However, that is meant to convey that individuals may or may not be from Punjab and surrounding states,” she said. “But we do not have a precise breakdown of the locations from which Indian nationals who were returned have originated.”
It is worth mentioning here that “Dunki” is the Punjabi term for “donkey flight”, an illegal immigration technique used for unauthorised entry into countries like the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Conmen exploit migrants by facilitating illegal border crossings, using methods such as containers and ships. Agents apprehend migrants at borders, leading to subsequent deportation.
According to Murray, in fiscal year 2024, which concluded at the end of September, the US repatriated over 1,100 Indian nationals. “That has been part of a steady increase in removals from the United States of Indian nationals over the past few years, which corresponds with a general increase in encounters that we have seen with Indian nationals in the last few years as well,” she said.
To sum up, while illegal migration from India to the US remains a challenging issue, efforts are ongoing to ensure safe, orderly, and regulated migration and to minimise the risks associated with illegal channels.
