India Has Good Reason to Help Shore Up Trump’s Wall
Taking back citizens living abroad illegally is a key pillar in the country’s strategy to promote more legal emigration.
Indian migrants crossing into Arizona.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images
India is proud of its diaspora. People of Indian extraction tend to earn well over the average wage in most countries, and often fit seamlessly and unobtrusively into local power structures. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point of cultivating Indians abroad and sometimes gifts foreign leaders a bit of his star power for their own campaigns. He attended a joint rally in Texas during President Donald Trump’s first term, for example.
So, the subject of illegal Indian migrants to the US would appear to require delicate handling. According to Bloomberg News, the incoming administration has identified at least 18,000 Indian citizens living in the US illegally and wants them sent back. That number could grow: The Pew Research Center estimated in 2022 that Indian citizens make up the third-largest community of undocumented immigrants in the US; there might be as many as 725,000 of them.