Indians in the US, and the model minority trap

When anti-immigrant sentiment surges, Indian Americans face the same biases and challenges as other minority groups

- SANDIP ROY

Donald Trump has clearly decided "shock and awe" will be the signature of his presidency. In the first weeks of his new term, he's announced a slew of headline-grabbing moves. He wants the US to take over Gaza and turn it into a Riviera. He would like to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and acquire Greenland. He has moved to dismantle USAID, the country's premier humanitarian aid agency. He wants to bring back plastic straws.

Much of this is part of his pledge to put America first, attack what he regards as "wokeism", but above all cut costs and improve government efficiency. So it's a little surprising that the US chose to deport immigrants who were in the US illegally by military aircraft rather than the usual commercial charters. Reuters estimated a recent deportation flight to Guatemala likely cost $4,675 per migrant. A one-way first-class ticket on a commercial carrier like American Airlines would have cost $853. India is much further away from the US than Guatemala. Last week, a US military aircraft arrived in Amritsar from Texas with a planeload of illegal immigrants.

It's not like illegal immigrants have not been deported before, even as far afield as India. But that typically happens without fanfare. Trump uses military planes and handcuffs and chains to drive home a point. He told lawmakers, "For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came...We're respected again." Trump wants everyone to take note of pictures of handcuffed migrants tied together, boarding a military aircraft.