After the recent US deportation controversy, India is considering a new law to ensure safe and orderly overseas migration. A framework aimed at promoting safe, structured, and regular migration for overseas employment is currently in the works. The move comes after the US deported 104 illegal Indian immigrants, who arrived in Amritsar on Wednesday aboard a C-17 US military aircraft, reportedly chained and shackled.

The tentatively titled ‘Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2024’ emerged from a report presented in Lok Sabha by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, on Monday. The proposed legislation seeks to replace the Emigration Act of 1983 with a view to facilitate the circular mobility of people intending to emigrate for overseas employment.

Also Read: What Was The Cost Of Deporting Indian Migrants On A US Military Plane?

The panel has stressed the need to set up Protector of Emigrants (PoE) offices in states that currently lack them. It has also called for the swift establishment of additional PoE offices in key “migration hotspots” like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to enhance outreach and provide better support to emigrants.
The External Affairs Ministry has told that the Committee that the proposed draft is under consultation with line Ministries and will, thereafter, be put up for public consultations.

The Committee has expressed its desire to be “consulted on the key aspects of the Bill” and emphasized that a revised act, reflecting the “changing global migration realities,” should be enacted within a set timeframe, ideally within the next year. An update about the progress made in this regard may be submitted to the Committee within three months, it added.

US Crackdown Of Illegal Migrants

The migrants, 104 in total and hailing from various states, were rounded up in a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration in the US. Among them, 33 were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. Nineteen women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven, were also on the flight.

What EAM Said In The Parliament

“The government carefully monitors the number of students in all foreign countries, and carefully monitors their welfare in situations of tension. We alert students, as we have done in Ukraine. Whenever there is a situation when we need to run flights, we are prepared. We have contingency plans,” said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Parliament on Thursday.

Sashi Tharoor acknowledged that deportations of illegal immigrants are routine but criticised the US authorities for the manner in which they handled the Indian nationals.

US deportations come amid tightening US immigration policies. There were increase in number of Indian nationals being detained for illegal entry in US. According to the Trump government, many continue to take high-risk routes through Mexico and Central America in search of better opportunities, While legal migration pathways remain always open.