(Image source from: travel.state.gov)
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has provided a data which states that around 1,616 Indians have been deported in the year 2019 in the United States which is said to be the highest in any single year since 2014.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement have detained around 8,447 Indians in the previous year for violating the immigration laws, based on the information that has been provided last month under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The detention of 9,818 Indians which included 359 women have been made by the authorities of the US Immigration in the year 2018 and it is said to be the highest until now. The year 2018 has also witnessed 611 Indians being deported from the United States.
The data from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also revealed that among the 8,447 Indian nationals who have been detained 422 were women and 8,022 were men while the gender of three individuals are said not to be clear by the authorities of America.
It has been observed that the Indian nationals from Punjab were desperate to reach the United States from the two videos that turned out to be viral in the social media platfo0rms which portray the men and the women of Punjab trying to cross a border fence along with their children. The border fence is most probably said to be the Mexico- US border.
Satnam Singh Chahal who is an executive director of the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) has sought the information regarding the number of Indian males and females who have been deported every year between the years 2014 to 2019 from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has also gained the information regarding the number of males and females of the Indian origin in the facilities of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the years 2014- 2019.
Catrina M Pavlik- Keenan who is the officer of Freedom of Information Act has stated that although the information provided by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement gives no clarity on the number of individuals belonging to Punjab it is believed that most of them are from the Punjab region.
He added saying that the increase in the number of illegal immigrants of the Indian origin is a matter that has to be concerned about as the illegal immigrants have been moving through Mexico, Arizona and Texas in the United States and this has to taken seriously and it should be concerned by the government of India and also the State of Punjab.
By Shrithika Kushangi
