To
Dr. S. Jaishankar
Union Minister for External Affairs
Dear Dr Jaishankar,
The fact of the first batch of 203 immigrants deported by the USA in shackles, hands and feet, presented a humiliating site to the entire nation (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pictures-of-indians-getting-handcuffed-humiliated-while-being-deported-from-us-saddening-congress/article69183679.ece).
The aircraft carrying the first batch of imigrants is reported have landed in Amritsar in the early hours of the 5th of February, 2025. (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/us-military-aircraft-carrying-first-batch-of-205-illegal-indian-immigrants-arrives-in-amritsar-donald-trump/articleshow/117938066.cms) It is unfortunate that there were women and minor children among the deported imigrants, a sight that has caused widepread public distress in India.
It is reported that thousands more of such immigrants will be deported to India in the coming days.
It is possible that several of such Indian workers, who went overseas in search of work, had worked in that country and contributed to the US economy in some measure, however small it may be, though their stay might not have been legalised. This needs to be carefully ascertained by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)
The nation should not lose sight of the undeniable fact that the successive governments have not been sufficiently effective in generating adequate employment opportunities to millions of youth in the country and those unemployed are often forced to look out in search of livelihoods outside the country. In the absence of effective regulation on the part of the government, unethical intermediaries have sprung up across the country to mislead the youth, extract huge amounts of money from them, forcing their families into heavy debt and despatch them to different overseas locations promising a bright future. The governments at the Centre and in the States are fully aware of this unfortunate state of affairs but failed to act in time to save the youth, thus becoming an indirect party to the collective crime.
There are reports of immigrants to the US losing their lives during the perilous journey undertaken by them (https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/indian-deportee-who-entered-us-via-donkey-route-says-he-saw-person-dying-in-panama-jungle-12932355.html). Has the MEA tried to ascertain the facts and establish the identity of such Indian immigrants?
The “Donkey Route” of immigration to the USA is no secret, as the same has been vividly depicted in the Bollywood movie, “Dunki”. Neither the Union Ministry of Labour nor your Ministry can pretend ignorance of it.
The problem of unemployment in India, on which the NDA government seems to be in constant denial, has become so acute that we have witnessed numerous instances of unemployed youth going to the extreme extent of going overseas, to be used as cannon fodder in wars in Russia, Ukraine and Israel.
Several Indian youth who went to Russia have been missing and their families have no way to get details of whether they are alive or not.
In the case of two such young immigrants, the Indian Embassy is reported to have sent the family an email asking for DNA reports to establish the youths’ identity so that their families may be duly compensated.. “The family of Budh Ram Singh who went missing in Russia in March last year was contacted and told to send the DNA report of Sinder Pal Kaur, the mother of Budh Ram. However, both the families cannot afford to get the DNA tests done due to the financial conditions, as a DNA test costs around Rs 23,000,” (https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Feb/03/indian-youth-recruited-into-russian-army-missing-punjab-mp-urges-mea-to-investigate-agents-involved-help-families). This is something that shakes the conscience of the nation.
It is unfortunate that the government should drag its feet in dealing with such matters in a more sensitive manner.
In the first instance, the government should tell the nation as to the steps taken by it to counter the scourge of unemployment, a subject that has come up for discussion again and again in the Parliament and elsewhere. When thousands of unauthorised agents have sprung up across the country, making false promises of overseas jobs to unemployed youth, the continuing silence on the part of the authorities remains inexplicable.
Some Latin American countries have at least symbolically registered their protest at the US deporting immigrants from their countries in a humiliating manner (https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/colombias-petro-will-not-allow-us-planes-return-migrants-2025-01-26/).
On the other hand, India appears to have tacitly accepted their plight.
India has been more than hospitable to US companies setting shop in the country.
For example, a profit-earning US company, Micron has been rewarded with a PLI subsidy of more than ten thousand crores of rupees, in addition to a slew of tax and other concessions, for setting up a semiconductor plant in Gujarat. India has made an exception to the court advised auction route to allotting satellite spectrum bands to accommodate Elon Musk controlled StarLink’s entry into India. Tax concessions have also been doled out to other US companies likeTesla (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-woos-tesla-by-slashing-import-duty-on-evs-to-15-from-70100/article67955547.ece#:~:text=The%20customs%20duty%20of%2015,total%20period%20of%20five%20years.). India’s questionable non-transparent nuclear bilateral deal with the US benefits the US more than India.
It is a fact that talented Indians, both domestic technical personnel and those resident in the US, have contributed immensely to the US economy. While the US has unhesitatingly taken advantage of this, it should not mean that it could subject unskilled Indian workers to humiliation. Globalisation benefits cannot and should not be allowed to be one-sided. The US, like the other developed countries, critically depends on the vast markets of large countries like India.
Coming back to the humiliating sight of Indian immigrants landing in Amritsar and the possibility of thousands more being subject to similar humiliation in the coming days, I wish the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had chosen to negotiate with the US administration to take into account the contribution, if any, made by the immigrants, in however small measure, to the US economy, and at least legalise their stay to the extent possible, keeping in view the over-friendly moves made by India to accommodate US companies to function in India. India, instead of passively accepting the immigrants’ plight, should have made prior arrangements to receive them at the points of their embarkation in the US in a more dignified manner and brought them back to India in our own aircraft in a more civilised way.
The United Nations charter on immigrants safeguards the rights of migrants, especially women and children, and both the US and India are signatories to it. Neither country can afford to disrespect it.
In recent times, the nation has witnessed unusual diplomatic bon homie between the US and India at the highest level. Our leaders went out-of-the-way, like never before, to provide even electoral advantage to US political leaders (https://youtu.be/ogg2Hf9Qia0). Against that background, it is surprising that the present leadership should accept the pathetic plight of immigrants as a fait accompli!
I sincerely hope that the MEA wakes up to the reality that the relations between India and the USA cannot be one-sided and they should respect each other’s sentiments in matters such as this.
I sincerely believe that the large-scale deportation of Indian immigrants is a matter that the Parliament and the public at large should discuss in a transparent and constructive manner, not exclusively confined to the four walls of the South Block.
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to the Government of India
Visakhapatnam
