NEW DELHI, December 17. /TASS/. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has identified about 17,940 illegal migrants from India who may face deportation after the potential tightening of US immigration policy by President-elect Donald Trump.

According to The Economic Times, ICE has accused Indian authorities of unwillingness to cooperate in the fight against illegal migration and has made a final decision to deport thousands of Indians. ICE said that an average of at least 90,000 Indians have been apprehended annually in the US over the past three years while attempting to cross the border illegally.

Indian experts say that most illegal migrants hail from Punjab, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh, "states with high migration trends." According to them, Indians often end up as illegal migrants because of ignorance of US laws and the lengthy bureaucratic process to obtain residency, which can take years.

The ICE list now includes more than 1.445 million people with final orders of deportation.