The United States Department of State issued a statement announcing plans to impose visa restrictions on the travel agents aiding “illegal immigration” into the US. In a major announcement, the US State Department on Monday said that it is initiating action to impose visa restrictions on owners and senior officials of Indian travel agencies for “knowingly facilitating illegal immigration” to the United States. “The Department of State is taking steps today to impose visa restrictions on owners, executives and senior officials of travel agencies based and operating in India for knowingly facilitating illegal immigration to the United States,” a State Department statement said. “Mission India’s Consular Affairs and Diplomatic Security Service work every day across our Embassy and Consulates to actively identify and target those engaged in facilitating illegal immigration and human smuggling and trafficking operations,” the statement added. The State Department stressed that the US will continue to take steps to impose such visa restrictions on travel agencies to “cut off alien smuggling networks”. “Our immigration policy aims not only to inform foreign nationals about the dangers of illegal immigration to the United States but also to hold accountable individuals, who violate our laws, including facilitators of illegal immigration,” it said.
The statement further said that the enforcement of the immigration laws is key to upholding the rule of law in the US and for the protection of the citizens. “This visa restriction policy is global and even applies to individuals, who otherwise qualify for the Visa Waiver Program,” it said. The State Department’s announcement came two days after the US Embassy in India issued a stern warning to the Indians, stating that if they stay in the United States after the visa permit ends, they could well be banned from travelling to the country permanently. “If you remain in the United States beyond your authorized period of stay, you could be deported and could face a permanent ban on traveling to the United States in the future,” the Embassy posted on X on Saturday. The latest move comes as part of Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants into the US. Hundreds of Indian nationals, who had entered the US illegally, were deported to India earlier this year on a military plane.
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