Migration and mobility: Indians abroad grapple with being both necessary and disposable
NEW DELHI: In 2025, the politics of migration and mobility has become central to global political discourse, propelling debates that echo across continents. Migration has become a defining question at the intersection of elections, state power, economic strategies, and national identity. Who gets to move, work, and settle, and under what conditions, has become a battleground where the contradictions of global capitalism and national sovereignty collide on a compelling political turf.
In the US, migration politics have taken a never-before enforcement-driven turn under the leadership of Donald Trump, who returned to office in 2025 with a promise to execute the “largest domestic deportation operation” in American history. In the wake of his campaign, mass deportations became a chilling reality, with flights to third countries where migrants had no prior ties, escalated immigration raids, and sweeping executive orders empowering authorities to enforce immigration laws. At the heart of this shift is the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which sends out a clear signal—migration has become a way of galvanising a political base.
This enforcement-heavy model of migration governance has sparked concern. Migration, once viewed as an issue of economics or human rights, has now become framed as a threat to sovereignty and national security, a narrative that is being exported globally. In countries such as the UK and Australia, where offshore detention and the criminalisation of migrants have been long-standing strategies, the push for harsher borders is part of a growing global plan.
Yet amid this tightening of borders, labour migration has taken centerstage as one of the most politically charged aspects of mobility. In the US, the H-1B visa programme, designed to attract high-skilled workers, has sparked fierce debate. Once lauded as a way to fill gaps in high-demand sectors like IT and engineering, the programme has come under fire for enabling the replacement of domestic workers with cheaper, more precarious foreign labour. Migration becomes a proxy for underlying issues of wage stagnation, outsourcing, and corporate cost-cutting. The once-celebrated arrival of skilled workers now feels like a threat to livelihoods of US citizens.
This contradiction plays out across many OECD countries, where the economic reliance on migrant labour is undeniable, even as political pressure mounts to reduce overall migration. Asylum systems are becoming more restrictive, family reunification increasingly conditional, and international student policies more limited.
India occupies a particularly complex position within this global migration landscape. The number of Indian workers abroad has surged from 6.6 million in 1990 to over 18.5 million by 2024, sending back remittances that totalled a record $135 billion in 2024-2025. Indian migrants are integral to labour markets in the Gulf, North America, and Europe. With increased deportations and heightened scrutiny of visa statuses, Indian migrants abroad face the precariousness of being both necessary to the economy and disposable.
Domestically, India’s politics of migration have become increasingly fraught with policies centered on “detect, delete, and deport” of “illegal migrants”. The growing fear around illegal migration taps into deep anxieties about demographic change, identity, and national security. These tensions are not new. But what was once a fluid, or even a shared space is now a contested issue where the line between citizen and “outsider” getting defined.
Trump’s deportation PLAN: CONTROL OVER COMPASSION
In 2025, President Donald Trump’s immigration policy took a hardline turn, focusing on mass deportations. His administration’s pursuit of the “largest domestic deportation operation” in US history involved immigration raids, deportation flights to third countries, and new powers granted to local and federal authorities. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated nearly $170 billion to border security and enforcement.
H-1B visa rule change: Focus on US domestic workers
The H-1B visa programme, originally designed to attract high-skilled workers to the US, has become a focal point in the debate over labour, wages, and immigration policy. The visa rules have come under scrutiny for being exploited by employers to replace domestic workers with cheaper, foreign labour. Critics say this has led to wage suppression and higher unemployment among young American graduates.
illegal migrants and poll rolls: SIR against illegal ids
In India, the SIR was also aimed at identifying and removing suspected illegal migrants from voter lists in border states like West Bengal and Assam, where large populations of Bangladeshi nationals are believed to have obtained voter IDs unlawfully. Critics argue that the campaigns disproportionately target minority communities, especially Bengali speaking ones, fuelling debates on citizenship, migration, and identity.
Still the top recipient: India as remittance leader
Remittances from Indians working abroad reached a record $135.46 billion in 2024-25, a 14% increase from the previous year, with $129.4 billion sent home. India remains the top recipient globally, far ahead of Mexico ($68B) and China ($48B). The number of Indian migrants has tripled to 18.5 million since 1990. In a positive shift, President Trump’s OBBB has reduced the tax on remittances from 5% to 1%, benefiting Indians.
International migration outlook 2025
The International Migration Outlook 2025, shows that permanent migration to OECD countries fell by 4% in 2024, totaling 6.2 million new immigrants. Family migration remained the leading reason, while labour migration dropped by 21%. Humanitarian migration increased by 23%. Temporary labor migration stabilised at a high level, with 2.3 million work permits issued.