New Delhi (Sputnik) — Thousands of Indians who arrived in the United States illegally as children face the risk of deportation with US President Donald Trump’s decision to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.
According to the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a South Asian advocacy group, 27000 Asian Americans (which includes 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis) are covered under DACA and an additional 17,000 from India are eligible for DACA, which makes India among the top ten countries for DACA eligibility.
“Though India does not figure in the top ten of DACA recipients list, around 5000-7000 Indian-Americans are already covered under DACA. Around 17000 Indian Americans are on the waiting list for the DACA. They might face deportation. This is the continuation of Trump's anti-immigration policy which will definitely have an adverse impact on already troubled ethnic relations in America. Dr. Ashok Sharma, Adjunct Faculty at the University of New South Wales, Canberra, at Australian Defence Force Academy, told Sputnik.
“As far as its impact on India-US relations is concerned, it will not affect the long term India-US relations trajectory which is comprehensive, and grounded in the geostrategic realities and common security concerns,” Sharma added.
The DACA gives temporary legal immigration status to people who arrived in the US illegally as children. But Trump administration’s attorney general Jeff Sessions said that the Daca policy would end in March 2018 and the US Congress now has up to six months to legislate on a new policy. The US is no longer going to accept new applications under the DACA.
