US military plane leaves for India with illegal migrants: Report

New Delhi: A US military C-17 aircraft has left for India with illegal migrants onboard, a news report said, days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced concerns over “irregular migration” during his first bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington last month.

According to a Reuters report, quoting an unnamed US official, the US military aircraft had departed for India with migrants aboard but would not arrive for at least 24 hours.

The Trump administration has begun deporting illegal immigrants back to their countries, and is using military aircraft to deport migrants and opening military bases to house them.

So far, US military aircraft have flown migrants to Guatemala, Peru and Honduras, the report said.

The deportation of illegal Indian migrants to India also comes amid reports that PM Modi is set to visit the US and meet President Donald Trump on February 12 or 13.

During the January 21 meeting between the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and EAM Jaishankar, the US readout of the meeting said that Rubio “emphasized the Trump Administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration”.

The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a recent media briefing declined to put a number to how many Indians are staying illegally in the US: “We are against illegal immigration, especially because it is linked to several forms of organized crime. For Indians, not just in the United States but anywhere in the world, if they are Indian nationals, and they are overstaying or they are in a particular country without proper documentation, we will take them back, provided documents are shared with us so that we can verify their nationality that they are indeed Indians. If that happens to be the case, then we will take things forward, we will facilitate the return to India.”

“As part of India-U.S. migration and mobility cooperation, both sides are engaged in a process to deter illegal migration, while also creating more avenues for legal migration from India to the U.S. We are keen to continue this cooperation. At the same time, the Government of India would need to do the required verification, including nationality of the concerned individuals before they are deported to India,” he said.