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The United States has visibly launched a tough campaign against illegal migrants in line with newly elected President Donald Trump’s declaration, with foreign relations experts saying this could also affect Bangladeshis living there illegally.
“We are getting reports that a drive has been launched across the United States to track down illegal migrants. We should not expect Bangladeshis to be spared,” foreign relations expert and former Bangladesh ambassador to the United States Humayun Kabir told BSS news agency.
Kabir, who now heads the Bangladesh Enterprises Institute (BEI), a think tank, said the Trump administration has planned to scrap a law that allows US citizenship through birthright, leading to the dislocation of many people from the United States.
He said the children who were born in the United States when their parents or mothers were on tours or living there illegally are now exposed to uncertainty under the proposed plan, though the policy is likely to face legal challenges.
“I think President Trump’s administration will ask the respective governments to take back their nationals who are living in the US without proper papers,” he said.
The former diplomat said, according to information he gathered, many people from 160 countries are living illegally in the United States. He pointed out media reports indicating that India has already agreed to take back 18,000 of their nationals staying in the US.
Another foreign relations expert and former ambassador, Mahfuzur Rahman, however, said Trump actually devised a stricter immigration policy targeting South and Latin American immigrants. But since the policy is not country-specific, it will affect migrants from other countries, including Bangladeshis.
Rahman, who previously served as the director general of the American Desk in the foreign ministry, said during his previous tenure Trump pursued an anti-immigration policy, and during his second tenure, it will be more stringent, as appeared from his inauguration speech.
Rahman said the new policy, however, could simultaneously make it easier for Bangladesh and other countries to extradite people from the United States.
According to unofficial or unconfirmed reports, over a million Bangladeshis live in the United States, and one-tenth of them are undocumented.
Bangladesh-origin US ICT expert Afzal Hossain, however, said history suggests the country has welcomed top brains and talents from across the globe to contribute to the superpower.
He said Trump too would not deviate from that policy, but the new administration would put in efforts to drive out others whom they may consider redundant.
Ambassador Kabir also echoed Hossain, saying Trump has already hinted he would acknowledge youths graduated from US universities.
According to the US-based TV channel CNN, the US-Mexico border was effectively closed off to migrants seeking asylum in the United States within hours of President Donald Trump taking office, an extraordinary departure from previous protocols that has left many concerned migrants in limbo.
Reports said the campaign against illegal migrants was underway, scaring thousands of people, including Bangladeshis, while US law enforcement agencies detained many of them visibly as part of a deportation attempt.
President Trump has signed several executive orders making sweeping changes to the immigration system, while immigration was one of his top issues during the presidential election campaign.