Posted on January 22, 2025

India Set to Take Back 18,000 Citizens From US to Placate Trump

Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Dan Strumpf, Bloomberg, January 21, 2025

India’s government is prepared to work with Donald Trump’s administration to identify and take back all its citizens residing illegally in the US, an early signal from New Delhi that it’s willing to comply with the incoming American president and avoid a trade war.

The US has identified some 18,000 illegal Indian migrants to be sent back home, for which India will verify and start the process of deportation, according to people familiar with the matter. The figure could be much higher than that, though, given that it’s unclear how many illegal Indian migrants live in the US, the people added, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Youth from western India, in particular the states of Punjab and Gujarat, are believed to constitute a majority of the illegal immigrants in the US, the people said.

Like several other nations, India is working behind the scenes to appease the Trump administration and avoid the brunt of its trade threats. The crackdown on illegal migration has been a signature campaign pledge for Trump. Within hours of his inauguration Monday, the new president moved to fulfill that promise as he pushed to end birthright citizenship and mobilize troops on the US-Mexico border.

In return for its cooperation, India hopes that the Trump administration would protect legal immigration channels used by its citizens to enter the US such as student visas and the H-1B program for skilled workers. Indian citizens accounted for almost three-fourths of the 386,000 H-1B visas granted in 2023, according to official data.

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India is a relatively modest contributor of illegal migrants to the US, with its citizens accounting for about 3% of all unlawful crossings encountered by US border patrol officials in fiscal 2024, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Latin American countries such as Mexico, Venezuela and Guatemala account for a far larger share.

However, the tally and share of Indian illegal migrants has been rising in recent years. In particular, it has shot up at the less-trafficked northern US border, where Indians account for almost a quarter of all illegal crossings and also the biggest share of unlawful migrants stopped at that entry point, the data show.

While the total number of illegal Indian migrants in the US isn’t certain, a report published last year by the Department of Homeland Security estimated some 220,000 unauthorized Indian immigrants resided in the US as of 2022.

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