New Delhi: Nearly 161 Indians who had entered the United States illegally will be deported this week. According to a report by PTI, they had entered from the southern border which joins Mexico and was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE when they tried to gain access to the US.

The report says that out of those who have been arrested 76 belonged to Haryana which was followed by 56 from Punjab. There were 12 people from Gujarat, five were from Uttar Pradesh and four from Maharashtra.

The rest included two persons each from Kerala, Telengana and Tamil Nadu and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Goa. Among the detainees, 3 are women and two 19-year-olds from Haryana. They had asked for asylum, claiming that they experienced violence or persecution in their home country but US judges dismissed their applications.

The US authorities have arranged a special chartered flight to take them to Amritsar, Punjab.

According to a report by ICE, Immigration Enforcement: Arrests, Detentions, and Removals, and Issues Related to Selected Populations by Government Accountability Office in the year 2018 over 10,000 Indians were detained in the US, out of which 831 were deported. The report by PTI said that the number of Indians detained by the ICE has doubled between 2015 and 2018.

The report also quoted Satnam Singh Chahal, executive director, North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) who said that in North India there is a network of human traffickers and officials who encourage young people to immigrate. Those who take this route often pay around Rs 35-50 lakh for the process.

In a statement, Satnam Singh Chahal urged the Punjab government and the Centre to take action against illegal agents and said that there are 1,739 Indians languishing in 95 jails across the US.