US arrest of illegal Indian immigrants at four-year low under Trump: Report

Indians attempting to reach the US via the 'dunki' route have never faced a higher risk of arrest than they do now under the presidency of Donald Trump, who is determined to shrink the number of illegal immigrants in the country.

As per a report in The Times of India, border arrests are at their lowest in the past four years. As per the US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP), these arrests dropped from 5,600 Indians in December to 3,132 Indians in January and only 1,628 Indians in February 2025.

The least arrests of Indians attempting to cross the border to the US in February may also be a result of the plight of illegal immigrants who were deported to India in the same month, many reportedly in shackles.

Owing to Trump's doubling down on illegal immigrants, smugglers are also pulling back, while those who are already living in the foreign nation illegally are keeping their heads low.

"Since Trump took office, smugglers have been extremely cautious. The situation became worse when the administration began deporting illegal immigrants via military flights to India. Human smuggling is now barely functioning," TOI quoted a source involved in the human smuggling network as saying.

This comes as US President Donald Trump began a wide-ranging immigration crackdown when he took office on January 20, aiming to reduce illegal crossings deport record numbers of immigrants who lack legal status.

"Many of us avoid going to markets, and some have even stopped sending their children to school. We are just counting the days here in US," a man living in the US for years told the publication.

Reportedly, around one lakh Indians attempt to enter into US illegally every year, however, these numbers are now expected to come down.

Meanwhile, The US Department of Homeland Security estimated that some 11 million immigrants lacked legal status in 2022, a figure some analysts say has climbed to 14 million. Trump said in December that he wanted to deport all immigration law violators.

Trump's initial executive orders aimed to ramp up arrests of immigrants in the US illegally but yielded mixed results during his first month in office.

During Trump’s first three weeks in office, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested about 14,000 people, border czar Tom Homan said in February. That amounts to 667 per day - twice last year’s average but on pace for a quarter million arrests annually - not millions.

Trump deported 37,660 people during his first month in office, Reuters reported in February, far fewer than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of Biden's administration.

A senior Trump administration official said deportations were poised to rise in coming months as countries accept more deportees. But initial figures suggested Trump could struggle to match higher deportation rates during the last full year of the Biden administration when large numbers of migrants were caught crossing illegally, making them easier to deport.

(With Reuters inputs)