President Donald Trump immigration policy has affected Indian nationals as well. At least 42 Indians are detained in a facility in New Mexico for illegal entry into the United States. Earlier it emerged that 52 Indians were detained in a federal prison in Oregon.
It is likely that more cases of Indians detained will emerge as president’s policy of enforcing immigration laws is very harsh. The U.S agencies enforcing immigration do not automatically notify missions of the countries from where the detainees come. Indian officials approached the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after hearing from community leaders, about the new batch of detainees. The ICE confirmed that at least 42 of the detainees at the Otero County Detention Centre in New Mexico, not far from the El Paso border crossing from Mexico, are Indians.
It is unclear whether the detainees want any consular assistance at all or not. The detention centres allow detainees to contact anyone they want, but they can refuse to meet or talk to visitors. The news of the new batch of Indian detainees emerged from Indian Americans who spoke to them in recent days.
“We have established contacts with both the detention facilities. A consular official has visited the detention facility in Oregon and another one is scheduled to visit the detention facility in New Mexico. We are monitoring the situation,” the Indian Embassy said in a statement.
Indian officials tracking the developments said it was unclear when these people were detained. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE has provided Indian missions with names of the detained people in Oregon and New Mexico.
President executive order
However president Trump has signed an executive order which says to end the ‘brutal separation’ of children from their family members. After a worldwide humiliation when the clips and images came out from the detention centre’s, where children were crying after separation from their parents created a huge outrage. Earlier US have withdrawn from the united nation Human rights council (UNHRC) seeking biased against Israel.
Single men are the most detainees
Most of the detainees are Sikhs from Punjab and a handful are Christians from Andhra Pradesh. The U.S. lawmakers who met detainees in Oregon had said they were seeking political asylum in America, claiming that they were victims of religious persecution in India. If they are indeed seeking political asylum, Indian missions would have no role to play. Asylum claims are adjudicated by the U.S immigration authorities.
Contrary to earlier reports based on information U.S lawmakers who visited detainees in the Oregon prison, there is no separation of families or children from their parents among Indian detainees. It, however, remains unclear whether these detainees were taken in while illegally crossing into America, or were picked up from communities.
“From what we understand now, these are single men. And they seem to have paid large amounts of money to touts who helped them cross into the U.S,” a source familiar with the developments but did not want to be named, told.
