The International Organisation for Migration and other global agencies conservatively put the number of undocumented migrants in India at around 10 million. India’s weak deportation policy has encouraged over the years large illegal migration into the country from its neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Few will disagree that the world’s most populous country needs a strong policy to deal with illegal immigrants for the safety and security of its own nationals. Economically, India is much weaker than neighbouring China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE which are known to follow a strong immigration policy. However, India’s soft democratic system and easy judicial interventions often make forceful deportation of illegal immigrants difficult. The US, itself a country of immigrants, has shown the world its ruthless resolve to deal with illegal immigrants.

Contrary to the poor economic status of those migrating illegally into India, Indian unlawful migrants to the US and Canada are reasonably well-off. Most of them take the help of private agents to enter their chosen overseas destinations at a huge cost. A good number of illegal immigration seekers are from Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana. Fees paid to agents for facilitation of illegal migration to the US could be as much as Rs. 40-60 lakhs for an individual and Rs.1-1.5 crore for a family unit. India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made a statement in Parliament that the focus should be on a “strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry”, following which central probe agencies and state police forces announced a slew of measures that they plan to take against such mischievous travel agents. According to the data provided by the government in Parliament last year, the Centre and states had notified 3,094 “illegal agents” on the eMigrate Portal until October 2024. The minister said that on the “basis of information provided by returning deportees about the agents and others involved, law enforcement agencies will take necessary preventive and exemplary actions”.

Interestingly, there is no authentic data on Indian migrants living illegally in the US. The number varies from 18,000 to 220,000 as reported by the US Department of Homeland Security as “unauthorised Indians” in 2022. The vast differences in estimates highlight the uncertainty surrounding the true size of the undocumented Indian population, according to the study. It is generally believed that Indian migrants make up only a small share of the overall unauthorised migrant population in the US. However, few are willing to buy Prime Minister Modi’s views on the subject during his recent visit to Washington DC that "these are children of very ordinary families, and they are lured by big dreams and promises." India’s illegal migrants are known to pay large fees to local agents to enter the USA. The prime minister said India would take back its nationals who were in the US illegally, and also crack down on the "human trafficking ecosystem".

In fact, as many as 15,756 illegal Indian immigrants had been deported by the US since 2009. Thus, the Trump administration’s action is nothing new. According to the official data, the highest number of deportations occurred in 2019 (2,042), followed by 1,889 in 2020. The numbers declined to 805 in 2021 and slightly rose to 862 in 2022. In 2023, the figure dropped to 617, while 1,368 deportations were recorded in 2024. As of February 5, 2025, a total of 104 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported. President Trump announced a flurry of immigration-related executive orders, paving way for a widespread effort to crack down on undocumented migrants in the US. In more than 21 actions, Trump has moved to overhaul parts of the US immigration system, including how migrants are processed and deported from the US.

India is as much at fault as the US with regard to the exit of illegal migrants and their entry to the US. Improperly documented migration to any country is a crime. The immigration and custom authorities are fully responsible for the exit and entry of these illegal migrants. These illegal immigrants are law offenders. They need to be treated and punished under the law of the land. There is nothing called innocent criminals. If the deportees are handcuffed before pushing them inside military aircraft, it could be for the safety of the pilot and crew members on board. There is no guarantee that the deportees on board will not attack the pilot or try to hijack the aircraft to a different destination.

There is much to learn from the process of the ongoing deportation of illegal immigrants from the USA for India, which has been suffering from the non-stop illegal immigration through its long sparsely guarded land, sea and river borders along Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar, even 77 years after the country’s independence. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, India has a total land border length of approximately 15,106.7 kilometres, including those with countries such as Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. India is still negotiating with Bangladesh to erect fencing along some portions of its borders. India has the longest international land border with Bangladesh covering 4,096.7 km. Jobless illegal immigrants are often easy prey for terrorists, drug peddlers, pimps, swindlers and other criminals. While the country must try to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, the process of deportation should be carried out earnestly with wide international publicity. (IPA Service)