Hope with India-US cooperation we'll be able to deter illegal immigration: MEA

New Delhi: Days after the US authorities deported a batch of Indian nationals who were staying in that country illegally, New Delhi Saturday said it hopes that with India-US cooperation on mobility and migration, "we will be able to deter illegal immigration".

At his weekly briefing here, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India engages in "regular dialogue" with the United States on migration and mobility.

"On October 22, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducted a large-frame charter removal flight to the Republic of India of Indian nationals who did not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States," the DHS said in a statement last week.

This week's flight demonstrates the department's continued commitment to pursuing "sustained cooperation" with the Indian government and other international partners to reduce and deter irregular migration and jointly work to counter human smuggling, it had said.

Jaiswal, in response to a query on this deportation, said, "You would have seen, recently we had some deportations from the US. We have a regular dialogue with the United States on migration and mobility. And the idea behind that is to create more avenues for legal migration." As part of this, "our regular consular dialogues and arrangements, we have facilitated the movement of people who are staying in the US illegally or are a part of an irregular movement", he added.

"This has been going on for some time. We hope that with this cooperation and our engagement with the US on mobility and migration, we will be able to deter illegal immigration," the MEA spokesperson said.

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 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, had also said that "no minor" was among them on that removal flight, adding these were all male and female adults.