Thanks to Don, 7K Indian immigrants face deportation

Thousands of people from India, who arrived in the US illegally as children, are fearing deportation after President Donald Trump decided to repeal an Obama-era amnesty programme, a South Asian Advocacy group has said.

Trump repealed the Deferred Action for Children Arrival (DACA) programme that granted work permits to immigrants who arrived in the country illegally as children, a move likely to impact 800,000 undocumented workers, including more than 7,000 IndianAmericans.

The number of people from India who arrived in the US illegally as children could be more than 20,000, according to an estimate carried out by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced the rescinding of the DACA. The announcement, which was anticipated for the past few days, was greeted with protests from across the country.

"Over 27,000 Asian Americans, including 5,500 Indians and Pakistanis, have already received DACA. An additional estimated 17,000 individuals from India and 6,000 from Pakistan, respectively, are eligible for DACA, placing India in the top ten countries for DACA eligibility," SAALT said. With the termination of DACA, these individuals could face deportation at the discretion of the administration, it added.

"The President's decision to terminate DACA puts 800,000 individuals at risk of deportation from the only country they've ever called home. Ending DACA is the latest evidence of this administration's utter lack of commitment to our nation's founding values of equality and fairness," Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT, said. "Our current patchwork of immigration policies and programs is broken, and we demand the Congress does its job to craft a common sense immigration process that creates a road- map to citizenship for aspiring new Americans.