750,000 Indians among 11 million undocumented immigrants in US as Trump vows mass deportation

US President Donald Trump’s inauguration into the White House for his second term has brought bad news for unauthorised immigrants who will be deported as a result of an executive order signed by POTUS on his first day in the Oval Office. This will also include as many as 725,000 Indians who will be forced out of the US.

“One of my most important obligations is to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement. My Administration will marshal all available resources and authorities to stop this unprecedented flood of illegal aliens into the United States,” Trump said.

Declaring illegal immigration a national emergency, Trump ordered the Pentagon to provide support for border wall construction, detention space, and migrant transportation and empowered the secretary of Defense to send troops to the border as needed.

Indian immigrants brace for impact

According to a Pew Research report of 2024, Indians account for the third largest group of illegal immigrants in the US after Mexico and El Salvador.

Nearly half of these undocumented immigrants are living or employed in the US under current authorisations which gives them immunity to reside in the country mandated by Trump’s predecessors.

Unauthorised immigrants call states like Florida, Texas, New York and New Jersey their home with the most number of migrants flocking to Florida (400,000).

Trump launches sweeping border crackdown

Shortly after the inauguration, US border authorities said they had shut down outgoing President Joe Biden’s CBP One entry program. This program allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the US legally by scheduling an appointment on an app. Existing appointments were cancelled, leaving migrants stunned and unsure what to do.

In several Mexican border cities, migrants saw their appointments on Biden’s CBP One app cancelled just after Trump took office. Some 280,000 people had been logging into the app daily to secure an appointment as of Jan. 7.

The Republican leader has also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to “terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders,” including the humanitarian parole program offered to migrants flocking to the US from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

With inputs from agencies