By Hari Jaisingh

In a shifting global landscape, the new U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to initiate the process of ending birthright citizenship and deporting undocumented immigrants.

As part of a broader set of executive actions, the order seeks to revoke automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents without legal immigration status.

Under the new policy, only children with at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen, green card holder, or U.S. military member will be eligible for citizenship. This move deals a severe blow to thousands of Indians stuck in an extraordinarily long green card backlog – a wait that could stretch up to 195 years!

If the Trump administration moves forward with deportations, 20,407 undocumented Indians could be among the first affected as of November 2024.

Of these, 17,940 individuals are under final removal orders but not yet detained, while 2,647 remain in detention centers.

According to Royce Murray, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), deportations of undocumented Indian immigrants have been steadily rising.

Under the Trump administration, deportations peaked at 2,312 in 2020. The numbers declined sharply during the Biden years – dropping to 292 in 2021, 276 in 2022, and 370 in 2023.

However, in 2024, deportations surged again to 1,529, highlighting a renewed crackdown. For context, 517 Chinese and 1,859 Brazilians were deported in the same period.

During his first meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Washington DC last month (Jan 2025), newly appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed concerns regarding irregular immigration.

India’s response to this issue is positive.

It says New Delhi is always open to their return. This is a matter of free and open discussions between the two countries.

As it is, levels of trust are very high between New Delhi and Washington, according to India’s External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.

This should ensure the smooth sailing of this issue. Indians have long sought opportunities for upward economic mobility, and for many, the U.S. represents the fastest route to achieving that goal.

America, for them, is a land of opportunity – a place where they believe they can advance more quickly and secure a better future.

It is difficult to say how this tendency can be curbed. This is a ticklish task for the two democracies.

The U.S., of course, would like to welcome highly skilled Indians who look for new opportunities. In a way, this is a matter of demand and supply.

It will be difficult to curb such tendencies in a democratic global order.

Abhik Ghosh, an anthropology professor at Punjab University, calls it a matter of choice.

“People move because they believe there are better opportunities elsewhere,” he says. “It is not about one country; it is about the options.”

Some leave for good, others return after a few years. But the movement is steady, undeniable. Migration cannot be stopped, Ghosh concedes. But it can be slowed.

“If people feel they have good options here – good education, good jobs, good living conditions – they might not look elsewhere.” But they do look elsewhere.

The latest Economic Survey suggests that India’s economic fundamentals are robust amidst strong downsides. Thus, we have to wait and watch the fundamentals of the Indian economy.

Despite strong fundamentals, India will lose its people – not to war, not to famine, but to opportunity.

The pull of higher wages, better jobs, and social security in developed nations is undeniable, while the push of low salaries and limited prospects at home makes migration feel less like a choice and more like an inevitability.

The United States and other countries, with their promise of steady income, have become a lifeline for semi-skilled and unskilled workers seeking a way out of economic stagnation.

Women, too, are migrating – once bound by marriage, now propelled by the desire for financial independence and professional growth. The land itself pushes people away, with droughts and floods forcing rural families into city slums, while safety concerns, crime, and deep-seated inequalities make many question their future in India.

And then there are the wealthy – the high-net-worth individuals who slip away quietly, lured by lower taxes, cleaner air, and the quiet assurance that life is better elsewhere.

Migration, in itself, is not the problem.

But when people leave not for adventure but for survival, when staying feels like a compromise, a nation must ask itself hard questions.

India must create better jobs, raise wages, and invest in people’s education and skills.

It must provide social security that makes staying worthwhile.

It must reconsider the policies that drive its brightest minds and hardest workers away.

Migration will always happen, but it should be a choice, not an escape. (SAT)