1,100 Indian Nationals Living Illegally In US Repatriated In One Year, Says DHS

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New Delhi: About 1,100 Indian nationals, who were staying in the United States illegally, were repatriated to India through charter and commercial flights during the 2023-24 American financial year ending September 30, a senior official in the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Tuesday.

In a virtual briefing, Royce Murray, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy, US DHS, in response to a query related to the October 22 charter flight that deported a batch of Indian nationals, said, "no minor" among them on that removal flight, adding these were all male and female adults.

The senior official said the October 22 charter flight was "de-planed in Punjab". However, she did not mention where exactly the flight had originated from or the place of origins of these deportees. The briefing was on the US Department of Homeland Security's cooperation with Indian government on irregular migration.

It came days after the US homeland authorities announced the deportation of a batch of Indian nationals who were staying in that country illegally. In response to a query on deportation of Indian nationals who were staying in the US illegally, Murray said about 1,100 Indian nationals were repatriated in the US financial year 2023-24, ending September 30.

The US fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. So, the period over which they were repatriated was from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, another official said. In response to another query, Murray said the repatriation in this fiscal period took place through a mix of charter and commercial flights.

"On October 22, the US Department of Homeland Security, through the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducted a large-frame charter removal flightto the Republic of India of Indian nationals who did not establish legal basis to remain in the United States," the DHS had said in a statement on October 25.

In the fiscal year 2024, the DHS removed or returned over 1,60,000 individuals and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to more than 145 countries, including India, the DHS statement said.