US set to send 7.25 lakh Indians back after branding them as illegal immigrants: Cong leader

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New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) Congress leader Rajeev Shukla claimed on Tuesday that the United States is set to send as many as 7.25 lakh Indians back after terming them illegal immigrants.

Shukla said he was told this during a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee of the external affairs ministry.

The Congress leader wondered what these people would do once they are back in India as they have been living in the US for years and have nothing left here.

"Attended a meeting of the foreign ministry of Parliament. There I came to know that the US is sending back 7.25 lakh Indians by calling them illegal," Shukla said in a post in Hindi on X.

"These lakhs of people have been living there for years. They earn well. In India, they have nothing left. What will they do after coming here? They have suddenly become poor from rich," the former Union minister said.

Shukla, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.

A US military aircraft is reportedly bringing a group of Indian migrants, in the first such deportation to India as part of a big crackdown on illegal immigrants ordered by President Donald Trump in his second term at the White House.

Without directly commenting on the deportation flight carrying the Indians, a spokesperson at the US embassy here said Washington is tightening immigration laws and removing illegal migrants.

The US action comes in the midst of India and the US finalising various aspects of a likely visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington from February 12 to February 13.

India is opposed to illegal immigration because of its links to several forms of organised crime, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last month, adding that New Delhi will take back all Indians who have either overstayed in the US or are there without documentation. PTI SKC RC