A Dream Shattered

Almost every person seeking asylum in a foreign country alleges State persecution, because of his caste or religion. The very fact that such spiels are believed by foreign governments while granting asylum is a poor reflection on our soft power, and the immense persuasive powers of immigration lawyers. However, a different reality emerges in interaction with the illegal migrants: the real reasons for their migration are economic and societal. Young people try to go abroad as they believe that Western countries offer more opportunities for them, and in any case, 'foreign returned' people are considered superior

- DEVENDRA SAKSENA The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax

I received a letter just before I left office from a man. I don't know why he chose to write it, but I'm glad he did. He wrote that you can go to live in France, but you can't become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Italy, but you can't become a German, an Italian. He went through Turkey, Greece, Japan and other countries. But he said anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American". Thus spoke US President Ronald Reagan on 19 January 1989, in his farewell speech.

The ugly spectre of American military aircraft bringing back handcuffed and shackled illegal immigrants to countries as far apart as India and Guatemala are a direct repudiation of the liberal ethos of successive US Governments, since President Washington's time. Significantly, China and Cuba have refused to accept the US deportation flights.

Such humiliating treatment of our citizens is definitely inconsistent with our country's image of a Vishwaguru, and the Government's claims of a rapidly advancing nation which had opportunities for everyone. The possibility of many more such flights, even if not so well-publicised, is extremely high, as the US has a very large number of illegal Indian immigrants.

Estimates vary widely between 7,00,000 (Pew Research Centre and Centre for Migration Studies of New York), 3,75,000 (Migration Policy Institute), 2,20,000 (Department of Homeland Security) and 18,000 (migrants identified by the US for deportation).

In his recent meeting with President Trump, PM Modi said India would take back its nationals who were in the US illegally, and also crack down on the "human trafficking ecosystem." However, illegal migration, the pace of which has quickened considerably over the last few years, has been taking place for a long time, and the Government's claim of having noted its enormity only after the US started deporting illegal immigrants does not ring true.