US hires chartered flight to send back Indians who stayed in country illegally

Washington: The United States hired a chartered flight to send back Indian nationals who stayed in the US illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said on Friday, noting that this has been done in cooperation with the Indian government.

“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,” said a senior official performing the duties of Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie A Canegallo.

The charter flight was sent to India on October 22.

The statement said DHS continues to enforce US immigration laws and deliver tough consequences for those who enter unlawfully by swiftly returning those without a legal basis to remain in the United States while encouraging the use of lawful pathways.

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 have decreased by 55 per cent.

In Fiscal Year 2024, DHS removed or returned over 160,000 individuals and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to more than 145 countries, including India, the statement said.

It said the DHS regularly engaged with foreign governments throughout the hemisphere and around the world to accept repatriations of their nationals without a legal basis to remain in the United States.

It added this was one tool among many the US used to reduce irregular migration, promote the use of safe, lawful and orderly pathways, and hold transnational criminal networks accountable for smuggling and exploitation of vulnerable people.

Over the last year, DHS has removed individuals from a range of countries around the world, including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Egypt, Mauritania, Senegal, Uzbekistan, China, and India.