A Texas delegate holds a sign during the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17, 2024. Donald Trump has promised to introduce – on the first day of his presidency – the biggest job to deport immigrants undocumented in US history. . | Photo Credit: AFP
The story so far: On October 22, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flew a “large-scale removal aircraft” to repatriate Indian nationals “who have not established a legal basis for residence in the United States.” Royce Murray, assistant secretary for Border and Immigration Policy at DHS, said the US returned more than 1,100 Indian nationals last fiscal year.
Why were the Indians brought back?
US officials have maintained that they want to prevent “irregular migration” to the US from India, among other countries, and that the chartered flight is more than the normal removals carried out by the Department of Transportation and Customs Enforcement on commercial flights. The flight was intended to demonstrate the strong will of the then-imprisoned Joseph Biden administration to enforce immigration laws and bring “severe consequences to those who enter illegally.”
What are the ways that irregular Indian immigrants try to enter the US?
Indians trying to enter the US illegally usually try to use the US border with Mexico to the south and the Canada-US border to the north. The pressure is beyond the Mexico-US border as several Latin American or Central American countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are known to offer visa-free entry to US-visa holders for a certain period of time. Using this facility, some people try to stay for a long time in these countries known for their open borders and easy travel to the Texas border by using dangerous human trafficking agents and organizations. India has a large number of visa agreements with these countries that allow extended stay for Indian citizens. For example, Peru is among those that waive the visa requirement for Indian nationals for business and tourism purposes for one or more periods of stay of up to 180 days per year, as long as they have permanent residence or a valid visa for at least six months in Australia. , Canada, UK, US, and any Schengen country.
From which states is the highest rate of illegal immigration?
The latest flight from the US that was carrying Indian people landed in Punjab, an American official told the media, indicating that most of the people on that special flight came from Punjab. A Hindu it had reported in November 2023 that from November 2022 to September 2023, a record number of Indians – 96,917 – were arrested while crossing illegally into the US, according to US Customs and Border Protection (UCBP) data. The number of Indians trying to enter the US has seen a five-fold increase since 2019. Available data shows that Gujarat has been hosting half of all illegal immigrants trying to enter the US There have also been several cases of people dying while trying. crossing the border. In a well-documented case, a family of four – Jagadish Patel, Vaishaliben Patel and their two children, Vihangi and Dharmik, froze to death while trying to cross from Canada to the US.
What does it mean to legally immigrate to the US?
There are various legally accepted procedures for Indian citizens to immigrate to the US Every US fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) approximately 1,40,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified individuals under the provisions of US immigration law the country. Work-based immigrant visas fall into “five preferred categories”. In some cases, spouses and children are allowed to join the applicant. Professionals who fall into the first three categories are people with extraordinary abilities in science, art, education, business or athletics, outstanding professors and researchers with sufficient experience, managers and international managers. Professionals with advanced degrees and people with special skills can apply for legal immigration to the US Skilled workers, professionals and unskilled workers who can fill positions after two years of training also fall into this list. The fourth category is ‘Special Immigrants’ which includes professionals working with US media sources, certain employees or former employees of the US government and people from conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan (translators/interpreters). The fifth category includes investors who can open foreign businesses in the US
President-elect Donald Trump, who is known to have used expressions such as “poisoning the blood” on the issue of immigration, did not refer to Indians. In fact, during the closing of his campaign, he even spoke for the protection of the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh who appealed to the Indian voters of the US That except, Vice-President Elect JD Vance’s wife Usha Chilukuri Vance is of Indian origin. the origin. Much of his focus on migration has shifted to cross-border flows from Latin American countries. However, the anti-immigration measures under him will be implemented in the same way and are likely to hit Indian immigrants.
What was Trump’s immigration policy during his first term?
During his first term (2017-2021), President Trump had increased the denial rate of H1B visas for Indian professionals. Mr. Trump had issued an executive order “Buy American and Hire American” on April 18, 2017. After that, the Foreign Affairs Manual included an instruction to consular officers to always observe the executive order while deciding on visa issuance. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under President Trump, the rejection of H1B visas for the first services increased rapidly from 13% in 2017 to 21% in 2019. companies transferring workers from India to the US under the L1 visa category.
Editing | Despair in depression: On the migration efforts of Indians to developed countries
During his first term, Mr. Trump had given the slogan ‘Build a Wall’ on the southern border of the US and Mexico. In the recent presidential election, he has focused on stopping illegal immigration and deporting the 11 million people living in America illegally. Mr. Trump presented a series of speeches on how he plans to deal with this problem that is thought to affect the job market in the US. He announced that the National Guard will be assigned to deport illegal immigrants and that he may invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. However, there is little clarity about whether Mr.
Moreover, his anti-immigrant stance will clash with the economic policy of his tech bosses who want access to the Indian market. It will be ironic if the Trump presidency opposes immigration from markets favored by business magnates who like Trump.
Published – November 10, 2024 03:10 am IST
Source link