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by IANS |
New York, Jan 27 (IANS) As the US has intensified its campaign of rounding up illegal migrants and deporting them on military planes, it overcame opposition from Colombia with threats of tariffs in a preview of how President Donald Trump will enforce his campaign promise.
After Colombia refused to let two aircraft carrying its nationals apprehended in the US as illegal migrants land, Trump announced on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon a 25 per cent tariff on imports from that country, which, he threatened, would double in a week.
However, by Sunday night, Colombia’s resistance crumbled, and the White House said it had agreed to “unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia" including those coming on military planes.
In a show of force on Sunday, federal agents fanned out across the US rounding up criminal illegal migrants.
Trump had promised mass deporations in his Day 1 agenda, but the logistical impossibility of rounding up millions of people has made his administration moderate it by prioritising those who had committed crimes, reinvigorating enforcement of laws that were followed tepidly.
Brazil, meanwhile, protested the handcuffing of deportees who arrived there on US planes calling it “degrading treatment”.
Mexico temporarily refused to let US military planes carrying deportees land last week, but quickly rescinded the orders and let them back in.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “It is the responsibility of each nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner”.
After a meeting between Rubio and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday, the US said that they had discussed “irregular migration” and the minister said that India was open to taking back illegal migrants.
Reports said that about 20,000 Indians would be taken back.
While that meshes with Trump’s goal of ridding the country of illegal migrants, it also deals with India’s concern over Indian criminal gangs and extremists operating from the US.
There are an estimated 11 million illegal migrants in the US and, according to the Pew Research Centre about 725,000 of them are Indians.
The rounding up of illegal immigrants, particularly those with criminal histories, has been ongoing, even under former President Joe Biden, but has been reinvigorated with a dash of publicity after President Trump declared a national emergency over illegal migration last Monday after he was sworn in.
On Sunday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said that several federal agencies were being deployed to help the Department of Homeland Security in roundng up illegal migrants in order to “secure the border, stop this invasion”.
He and Border Czar Tom Homan were in Chicago, where the enhanced operations have been launched.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the prime agency for the deportations announced “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago to keep “potentially dangerous criminal aliens".
Chicago is one of the places that have declared themselves sanctuary cities that claim to be protective of illegal migrants and forbidding their police and other agencies to cooperate with the immigration authorities.
Operations were also afoot in other places, including Colorado where about 50 people were arrested in a raid at a nightclub, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
DEA said in post X that many were members of Tren de Aragua, a dreaded Venezuelan criminal gang declared a terrorist organisation by President Trump.
The agency said it was participating in raids in Los Angeles, Savannah in Georgia, Omaha in Nebraska, and Arizona State.
On Friday, raids were carried out in Newark, New Jersey.
Homan has threatened legal action against those impeding immigration operations.
Despite Chicago's claim to be a sanctuary city, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in an interview to CNN that the state would cooperate in deporting criminal illegal migrants or those under deportation orders, while ruling out participation in raids.
The White House posted on X stylised photos of some of those arrested, listing the crimes they are convicted or accused of, and these ranged from having ties to the Islamic State terror organisation, membership in the international gang MS-13, rape, sexual abuse of minors, murder, and, even, driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
CBS reported that the US was also considering a deal with El Salvador to send illegal migrants from other countries there and tell them to seek asylum there, declaring the Central American nation a “safe third country”.
That would be like Britain’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda which the British Supreme Court struck down.
Australia sent some asylum-seekers to camps in Papua New Guinea and enacted legislation last year to expand the programme.
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