Isaac Harold Gomes
Kolkata, Jan 13, 2024: US President Donald Trump’s massive crackdown on illegal immigrants has become a raging issue worldwide. Recently, the US deported 104 Indian immigrants to India – handcuffed and in chains.
Among them, 30 are from Punjab, 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
One of the deportees is 18-year-old Robin Handa from Haryana. “My father put together his savings of over 15 lakh [1.5 million] rupees from selling land and loaned 30 lakh [3 million] rupees to pay an agent who promised to send me to the U.S. via the U.K., only for me to be chained like an animal and brought back to the country,” Robin said.
He had made the “expensive” journey all the way to the US only after realizing his hometown had no jobs for him to lead a decent living.
Another deportee Harwinder Singh from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, said that he only paid his agent 4.2 million rupees after an agent promised him a US work visa. He was arrested at the US-Mexico border.
Opposition parties have criticized the way the US deported Indians. Shashi Tharoor, Congress party member in the Lok Sabha found it “an insult to India and the dignity of Indians.”
However, India’s External Affairs Minister reportedly termed the use of “restraints” as a “standard operating procedure.” He stated that 15,756 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported to India from the US since 2009.
According to the latest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement figures, as many as 24,974 Indian nationals are currently detained on criminal charges and immigration law violations. An estimated 725,000 Indians there are undocumented.
Another report says about 13.7 million people were undocumented and 9.7 million people do not have legal protection to be in the U.S.
Countries apply two common laws for the grant of citizenship – Jus Soli and Jus Sanguinis.
Jus Soli
Jus Soli is a Latin term that means “right of soil” and means citizenship by birth. If one’s parents move as immigrants to a particular country that abides by Jus Soli law and their child is born in that country, she/he will automatically gain citizenship rights by birth, regardless of the citizenship of the parents.
Jus Soli allows for generations of immigrant families to eventually become citizens. As the naturalization process is typically long and expensive, most immigrants opt for Jus Soli which gives them an easier opportunity to citizenship.
Jus Sanguinis
Jus Sanguinis in Latin means “Right of Blood.’ This law states that citizenship is earned based on parents’ citizenship irrespective of the country where their child is born. Many EU countries use this law to determine citizenship.
Under this law, it doesn’t matter where a person is born. As long as their bloodline is from a country that follows Jus Sanguinis, they will be granted citizenship. This law is used to grant citizenship because it assumes that the core national values and loyalty will be acquired through socialization from one’s bloodline. Indian citizenship law follows the principle of ‘Jus Sanguinis’ in granting citizenship.
Issues with Jus Soli
Almost all the countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania grant citizenship based on Jus Sanguinis. The main reason for this is Jus Soli causes concern for illegal immigration because many families, with a view to obtain a second citizenship, use it to get around the immigration systems in a country.
Canada and the US are the only developed nations in the world that follow Jus Soli. Now on assuming office as the US president for a second term, Donald Trump has said he would end citizenship by birth as it was exacerbating the immigration issue.
But for this he must get the Constitution amended. This won’t be a cakewalk. Already three federal courts in the US have refused to toe his line. Trump himself is born of immigrant parents – father German and mother Scottish.
The UK too has begun a crackdown against illegal immigrants and has extended it to Indian restaurants, nail bars, convenience stores and car washes which employ such individuals.
The Home Office described the action as a UK-wide blitz on illegal working in the country.
India is the world’s fifth largest economy and is poised to be the third largest by 2030. Then why do so many Indians eye immigration to the US and other European Union countries, even illegally, by paying huge sums of money to agents?
The answer lies in the yawning gaps between India’s GDP-PPP (Gross Domestic Product based on Purchasing Power Parity) per capita income. The world’s two top countries in 2024 were Luxembourg (US$154,910) and Singapore (US$153,610).
The US was 10 (US$89,68) and the United Kingdom was 28 (US$64,384), India was far behind at 125 with US$11,940.