A viral video of 104 shackled Indian deportees reignites political debate in India and raises fears among immigrants in the U.S. as Trump’s immigration policies take a hardline turn.
On February 4, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks posted a dramatic video showing the deportation of undocumented Indian immigrants back to their home country. The footage showed 104 individuals, handcuffed and shackled, being escorted onto a flight — one that Banks described as the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport.
The video also carried a chilling warning: “If you cross illegally, you will be removed.”
The incident has caused an uproar both in India and among Indian Americans in the United States.
In India, the manner of the deportation has sparked outrage, with opposition leaders demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi explain why the deportees were handcuffed and shackled.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the event has served as a disquieting reminder to many immigrants that conditions may be changing rapidly under the new administration.
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“It is an incredibly sad state of affairs, because the deportees had made the dangerously arduous journey to the U.S. looking for a better life,” Alen Takhsh, principal attorney at Takhsh Law PC, Evanston, IL, told The American Bazaar. “In many instances, they had spent $45,000 to $60,000 for their migration to be facilitated, often with their families having sold homes or farms to finance the trip.”
The incident has also led many in both India and the U.S. to reflect on why some Indians are willing to risk their lives to migrate. “I am on an H-4 EAD visa, but listening to these stories, I feel jittery about traveling to India for a family function,” Anuradha R. (last name withheld on request), told The American Bazaar. “All my papers are in order and up to date, but there is still a fear of scrutiny, even though we are documented. This illegal migration has done nothing but tarnish the reputation of Indians in America.”
Rekha Sharma-Crawford, founder of the Kansas City, Missouri-based law firm Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law, understands how these actions can instill fear. “I think all these orders impact Indians in the U.S., both lawfully and unlawfully,” she said. “The enhanced enforcement is going to create fear within the undocumented population—of which India now ranks third in the U.S.”
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The other big question on everyone’s mind is: What may be coming next? Takhsh offers his perspective: “Given that India has green-lighted the acceptance of its removed nationals from the U.S. on military airplanes, it is entirely possible for this trend to continue unabated—even beyond the 18,000 identified by U.S. authorities.”
Sharma-Crawford also sees some practical challenges. “The Indian consulates in the U.S. are ill-equipped to deal with these issues since acknowledging the undocumented population has never been a priority,” she said. “Reports already indicate that Indians will be especially impacted if they have final orders of removal or are under orders of supervision.”
When asked whether the move could have a detrimental effect on legal immigration, Takhsh said, “The honest answer is that neither I nor my colleagues— in fact, no one— truly knows the extent to which this administration may go to thwart legal immigration. I tell current and prospective clients the following: If the president is willing to upend the cornerstone interpretation of the 14th Amendment (birthright citizenship), how do you think he feels about the permanence of legal immigration? That is in no way, shape, or form to suggest that legal immigration is on the chopping block, but it does indicate that significant changes may be on the horizon.”
As soon as he returned to the White House, President Trump issued an executive order empowering law enforcement agencies to deport criminal aliens. Since then, multiple deportation flights have taken off to various countries, primarily those south of the U.S. border. However, there is no clear evidence that all the deportees were criminals.
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India has the third-largest undocumented population in the United States.
According to a Pew Research Center study based on 2021 data, approximately 725,000 Indians were living in the U.S. without legal status, making them the third-largest unauthorized immigrant group after Mexico and El Salvador. In total, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. reached 10.5 million in 2021.
Indians accounted for over 7% of the country’s unauthorized immigrant population, which, in turn, represented 3% of the total U.S. population and 22% of the foreign-born population. These proportions were among the lowest recorded since the 1990s.
After Mexico (4.1 million in 2021), the countries with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in the U.S. were El Salvador (800,000), India (725,000), Guatemala (700,000) and Honduras (525,000).
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Reports indicate that India and the United States have identified approximately 18,000 Indians living in the U.S. without legal status.
The deportation of Indian nationals—carried out in a manner widely criticized as inhumane—has become a political challenge for Modi, who is set to visit Washington, D.C., for his first official meeting with President Trump during this term.
Addressing the issue of undocumented Indians, Trump recently voiced confidence that Modi “will do what’s right” in accepting the return of Indian nationals deported from the U.S.
Trump’s remarks came after a phone call with Modi — their first conversation since Trump’s January 20 inauguration.