About 1,100 Indian nationals repatriated from US in 12 months, says DHS official

'NO MINOR WAS AMONG THEM ON THAT REMOVAL FLIGHT'

NEW DELHI: About 1,100 Indian nationals, who were staying in the United States illegally, were repatriated to India through charter and commercial flights during the 2023-24 American financial year ending September 30, a senior official in the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Tuesday.

In a virtual briefing, Royce Murray, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy, US DHS, in response to a query related to the October 22 charter flight that deported a batch of Indian nationals, said, "no minor" was among them on that removal flight, adding these were all male and female adults.

The senior official said the October 22 charter flight was "de-planed in Punjab".

However, she did not mention where exactly the flight had originated from or the place of origins of these deportees.

On a query on the number of people who were deported on October 22, she just said large-scale charter flights have about 100 people to be removed.

The briefing was on the US Department of Homeland Security's cooperation with Indian government on irregular migration.

It came days after the US homeland authorities announced the deportation of a batch of Indian nationals who were staying in that country illegally.