
The newly formed Trump Administration has said that it has begun ‘deportation flights’ taking the arrested illegal migrants out of the United States, according to a spokesperson of the Presidential office of the USA, the White House.
In a post on X, “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: If you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences,” assistant press secretary, Karoline Lewitt said.
In what is being termed the largest deportation operation in American history, US military C-17 aircraft began flying out migrants on orders from President Donald Trump on Friday. 80 migrants were flown out from the United States to Guatemala in two military aircraft on Friday.
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the USA made 538 arrests and lodged 373 detainees on Thursday. A day earlier the Pentagon said that it has started deploying 1,500 active-duty troops along its southern borders with Mexico.
“This is just the beginning,” acting defence secretary Robert Salesses said, asserting the new administration’s hardline towards illegal immigration.
US President Trump on H-1B visas
The US President Donald Trump said that he was on “both sides” of the H-1B argument but what he wanted to do is expand the categories of people coming to the US under the programme to include maitre d’, wine experts and high-quality waiters.
A debate is raging among Republicans, including in the Trump administration, on the H-1B visa programme under which US employers are allowed to hire foreign workers in speciality occupations for three to six to make up for the shortage of locally available talents. Some conservatives argue the programme has been abused to replace American workers with low-wage alternatives from abroad.
“I like both sides of the argument, but I also like very competent people coming into our country, even if that involves them training and helping other people that may not have the qualifications they do,” Trump said at a news briefing on his first full day in office.
“But I don’t want to stop. And I’m not just talking about engineers,” he continued.
“I’m talking about people at all levels. … Maitre D’s, wine, you know, experts, even waiters, high-quality waiters. You got to get the best people now,” he said.
The US issues 85,000 visas under the H-1B non-immigrant short-term work visa — from abroad and among the foreign students enrolled in US colleges and universities. And most of these visas have gone to Indians.