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In his first meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington DC on Wednesday (January 22), newly appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the issue of “irregular immigration”.

If the Trump administration moves on deportations, among the first affected could be the 20,407 “undocumented” Indians, as of November 2024. These Indians are either facing “final removal orders” or are, currently, in detention centres of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Of these, 17,940 “paperless” Indians are not in detention but are under “final removal orders,” and another 2,647 are in detention under ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

In recent years, there has been a “steady increase” in deportations of undocumented Indian immigrants from the US, Royce Murray, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at Department of Homeland Security (DHS), had told The Indian Express during a virtual briefing last year. The US had deported more than 1,100 undocumented immigrants from India between October 2023 and September 2024, Murray had said.

Here is a look at the process of deportation carried out by the US, whether a deportee can appeal against it, who bears the expenses, and how many Indians were deported during the Biden Administration, and the previous Trump regime.

How does deportation from the US work?

Deportation is the process of removing a non-citizen from the US for violating immigration law. The US may detain and deport non-citizens who participate in criminal acts, are a threat to public safety; or violate their visa. The foreign national may be held in a detention centre before trial or deportation.

However, the US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets forth a streamlined “expedited removal” process for certain foreign nationals who might have recently entered the US without inspection. Expedited removal may happen when a non-citizen comes to the US without proper travel documents; uses forged travel documents; or does not comply with their visa or other entry document requirements.

According to a document by the Congressional Research Service on “Expedited Removal of Aliens”, “Non-US nationals (aliens) who do not meet requirements governing their entry or continued presence in the US may be subject to removal.” It further says, “The expedited removal process, created by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, permits the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to summarily remove aliens arriving at a designated US port of entry (arriving aliens) “without further hearing or review” if they are inadmissible”.

Many of the Indian nationals facing imminent deportation fall under this category, according to experts. Most of them are likely to have been apprehended either at a designated port of entry or near the international border when trying to enter, or shortly after entering the US.

Can a person appeal against deportation?

The rules say a non-citizen, classified as “alien” otherwise subject to expedited removal who expresses an intent to apply for asylum or a fear of persecution if returned to a particular country, is entitled to administrative review of that claim before being removed.

Asylum is the only form of relief that gives such a non-citizen a permanent legal foothold in the US. A non-citizen, classified as “alien”, who shows a credible fear of persecution is placed in formal removal proceedings rather than expedited removal.

Who bears the cost of deportation?

Before the deportation is carried out, one might be able to leave the US at their own expense. This is known as voluntary departure. However, the ICE Air Operations (IAO) — ICE’s primary air transportation division — facilitates the transfer and removal of non-citizens via commercial airlines and chartered flights in support of ICE field offices and DHS initiatives.

IAO also conducts special high-risk charter flights on an as-needed basis to repatriate non-citizens subject to final orders of removal to locations worldwide and may include non-citizens who have failed to comply with final orders of removal, security risks, or other risk factors. IAO stages a total of 12 aircraft at its operational locations in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.

How has deportation from the US to India increased in recent years?

According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report, Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador remain top countries where citizens are deported or repatriated from the US. However, India figures above China and almost equals Brazil.

In 2019, around 1,616 Indians were deported, which increased to 2,312 in 2020. In the post-Covid years of 2021, 2022, 2023, also the Biden years, the numbers were significantly lower — 292, 276 and 370 respectively. But it rose to 1,529 last year. In comparison, 517 Chinese and 1,859 Brazilians were deported from the US in 2024.

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