Since Donald Trump took office, the US has begun to deport illegal immigrants en masse. According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, at least 2,681 illegal immigrants have been arrested since Trump took office.

As announced during the election campaign, Trump has also declared a state of emergency on the southern border. With his announcement, 1,500 soldiers have been deployed in the border area with Mexico. The Ministry of Defense is preparing to deploy 10,000 more soldiers.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are more than 300,000 residents of Nepali origin in the United States. Out of which 200,000 have received green cards and about 87,000 have received citizenship. There are 20,000 students and 20,000 have applied as refugees. In addition, 7,500 people have received temporary residence permits. Similarly, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has estimated that 1300 Nepalis are unauthorized. 

There were 35 unauthorized immigrants in the US in 1990. In 2022, it reached the highest ever i.e. 12 million. According to Pew Research, that number has decreased to 10 million. Most of them are 4 million from Mexico. 

El Salvador, in second place, has 750,000. India, which is in third place, has 725,000 unauthorized immigrants. Most of them are said to be from Punjab and Gujarat provinces. 

Similarly, Guatemala has 675,000, Honduras has 525,000 and Venezuela has 270,000. California has the highest number of undocumented immigrants, with 1.8 million. There are 1.6 million illegal immigrants in Texas, 1.2 million in Florida, 650,000 in New York, 475,000 in New Jersey and 400,000 in Illinois. Similarly, there are 350,000 unauthorized immigrants in Georgia, 325,000 in North Carolina, 300,000 in Massachusetts and 300,000 in Washington. According to the US government, there are 1,363 Nepalis who are unauthorized immigrants. In recent years, the number of Nepalis entering America illegally through Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala and other countries is increasing. Some Nepalis have also been arrested while entering America. And, some have even lost their lives.

According to ICE, 271 thousand 484 non-citizens from 192 countries were returned to their country in 2024. Among them, there are 87 thousand 298 people from Mexico. Similarly, there were 66,435 from Guatemala, 45,923 from Honduras and 15,284 from El Salvador. Similarly, 1,529 people from India and 57 people from Nepal have been 'deported', according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

In the first phase, the media reported that the Trump administration plans to take control of unauthorized immigrants in New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, California, Iowa, New York, Texas, Utah, Minnesota, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, and other states. There is a large presence in the states of America such as Texas, New York, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, Washington DC, North Carolina, Oklahoma. 

President Trump plans to deport illegal immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border. In his inauguration speech, Trump called undocumented immigrants "unauthorized aliens" and said he would "send them back to where they came from." All unauthorized access will be stopped immediately. We will begin the process of returning millions of criminal aliens to the places they came from," Trump said. 

Tom Homan, the border chief of the Trump administration (Border Czar), said that unauthorized immigrants could be arrested at any time. "Every undocumented immigrant, even if they don't have a criminal background, can be arrested at any time," Homan said. 

On the same day Trump was sworn in, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Hoffman issued a directive saying immigration officials could conduct operations in "sensitive" areas. "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," he said in a statement. 

Under existing law, people who have applied for asylum and are awaiting a decision cannot be deported, even if they are not legal residents. Generally, people who are facing deportation or removal from the US apply for 'defensive' asylum and people who are not in deportation proceedings apply for 'affirmative' asylum. 

Until July 2022, about 915,000 'defensive' applications and 720,000 'affirmative' applications are under consideration. Defensive applications are reviewed by the Immigration Office of the Ministry of Justice and the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Ministry of Homeland Security. 

However, Homan said anyone who is here illegally should leave the U.S. and that those seeking asylum should go through the legal process. "Go to the embassy for legal procedures," he said, "You cannot come to this country and request asylum." Entering the US illegally is breaking our laws. Homan says that not only the military, but the entire agency, including the Ministry of Justice, will be mobilized for the mass deportation plan and its implementation. 

Trump signed an executive order on January 20 to "deport" those living illegally. Soon after, illegal immigrants started to be arrested. ICE arrested 956 people on Sunday alone. That is the largest number of arrests in one day since the start of Trump's second term. About 300 people were arrested on Saturday. It is reported that 433 unauthorized immigrants were arrested daily after Trump's swearing in. Most of those arrested Sunday were people convicted of various crimes, ICE said. It is said that some of them have been convicted of serious crimes like murder and sexual abuse. 

According to the American media Washington Post, the Trump administration has instructed ICE to arrest at least 1,200 to 1,500 illegal immigrants every day. According to NBC News, arrests were made on Sunday in Washington, New York, California, Louisiana, Colorado, Illinois and other states. Some of those arrested have been taken to Colombia. At first, Colombia did not allow the military plane carrying the migrants brought back from the US to land. After that, there was a war of words between President of Colombia Gustavo Petro and Trump. 

Soon after, President Trump announced new sanctions and policies against Colombia. He warned of an "emergency 25 percent tax" and that it would be raised to 50 percent in a few weeks. In addition, he announced a travel ban for Colombian citizens and the cancellation of visas for Colombian officials. Hours after Trump's announcement, Colombian President Petro also ordered the commerce ministry to raise tariffs on US imports by 25 percent. However, after Trump's warning, Colombia has decided to accept migrants sent back on military planes. 

Colombia says it has agreed to 'all of President Trump's terms'. "We will accept Colombian citizens who return as exiles," Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said. He stated that the flights returning from America carrying immigrants have started again. 

The US presidential office issued a statement saying that "President Trump hopes to protect the nation's sovereignty and that all other countries in the world will cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens who are in the US illegally." The U.S. is also asking Mexico to help repatriate its citizens through ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexico did not allow a US military plane carrying migrants to land on Thursday. 

Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff against Mexico for allowing illegal immigrants to enter. However, it has not yet been implemented. The White House said there was no flight due to administrative problems. White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt said Mexico accepted four flights carrying deported migrants in one day. However, according to CNN, he did not mention anything about the military, commercial or private aircraft that made those flights. Brazil condemned the Trump administration's "disgraceful treatment" of its citizens as it returned migrants on Sunday. According to Brazilian officials, 88 people were handcuffed on a ship that returned Brazilian citizens from the United States. 

Brazilian officials say the ship landed in a different city than the one designated. According to CNN, the plane was stopped from reaching its destination due to "the use of handcuffs and sikri, the bad condition of the plane, the bad air-conditioning system and other problems."

Earlier last Thursday, a large number of illegal immigrants were arrested. According to the White House, 538 illegal immigrants were arrested on Thursday. White House press secretary Levitt says that 265 of them were returned to their countries by military aircraft. According to Levitt, 373 out of 538 people have a criminal background. 165 people are from non-criminal background. Some of them have been taken to Guatemala. According to CBS News, three military planes took 265 people to Guatemala. One hundred and five people were taken in one of the three planes and 60/60 people in two. 

India has said that it is ready to return Indian citizens living in the US 'illegally'. It is reported that India is working with the Trump administration to immediately bring back about 18,000 illegal or undocumented citizens. In a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said that India is ready to take back citizens who are staying illegally in the US. "If our citizens are not staying here legally and they are citizens of our country, we are always ready for their just return to India," he said.