On Reintegration of Indian Deportee Women from Regular and ‘Dunki’ Routes

Dr Parvathy Poornima

Kerala-based nurse Leena Maria Soosai lost almost a decade of her career after being linked to a passport forgery case that led to her deportation from Brussels in 2015. A lower court in Delhi discharged her recently as the prosecution failed to prove that she had cheated Indian immigration authorities as accused by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (TOI 2026). Many Indian women including nurses, domestic workers and students face deportation due to visa, documentation and sponsor-related disputes. As media reports, the US deportation plane, a C-17 Globemaster aircraft landed in Amritsar in February 2025, carrying over 100 Indians, and among them were 19 women and 13 minors. However, gender-segregated deportation data is not available yet.

As the MEA confirms, about 1.6 lakhs Indians were deported from 2021 to 2025 from across the globe.

Though the question about the ‘Dunki Route’ or unauthorized routes which involves crossing often used by traffickers to facilitate illegal crossings through multiple borders, has been raised in Parliament, there is less emphasis on vulnerabilities that women face while travelling through illegal migration including exploitation by agents, lack of legal protection, immigration penalties, accusations of passport forgery and cultural stigma. There is a lot of discussion centering ‘immigrant’ &’ refugee’ identity happens in academia and media circles. However there is no definitional clarity on what constitutes the concept of a ‘deportee’ in the national context, yet.

Gendered Vulnerabilities of Deportation
Women immigrants are subject to several institutional constraints. Visa lapses, sponsorship related issues and changing immigration regulations are the key reasons behind deportation. In the absence of legal recourse and support services women are subject to systemic marginalization. As studies indicate, even minor documentation errors are considered to be major violations. Deportation obstructs women’ s economic stability, mainly due to insecure work status and inadequate access to re-employment support. Many hold short-term informal jobs with lower wages and minimal savings. Those who finance immigration by taking loans face severe financial crises upon being deported.

Deportation not only strips women of mobility but also intensifies cultural stigma. The 73 year old Harjit Kaur was arrested in the US and was deported due to unsuccessful asylum claims, after spending three decades in the US (Hindustan Times 2025). Deportation reinforces patriarchal control within families and communities and in many cases increases the risk of domestic violence and psychological stress due to shame and isolation. Women belonging to marginalized caste, religion and region bear even deeper vulnerabilities.

According to the International Organization of Migration (IOM), deportation is the process removal of a non-national from its territory by the state to his or her country of origin after refusal of admission or termination of permission to remain. At present India lacks a clear definition of ‘deportee’ in the national framework. This ambiguity excludes deportees, especially women from welfare schemes, and creates policy gaps in migration governance.

Policy Responses and Limitations
MEA proposes the Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2025 in Parliament that intends to replace the existing Emigration Act, 1983. It aims to develop a mechanism for safe, legal, orderly and regular mobility for employment and work abroad. It brings regulations for recruitment agents, digital registration, pre-departure training, structured handling of complaints and welfare funds. It also intends to establish an Overseas Mobility and Welfare Council to provide greater convergence between ministries in migration policy. For the bill a ‘returnee’ is an emigrant who is returning to India after a period of 182 days or more from a host country, either voluntarily or under orders of deportation or removal by the government of the host country (MEA).

The bill ignores the case of deportee women and focuses only on outbound migration. There is a need to gender-mainstream provisions recognizing women deportees from legal routes and Dunki routes, addressing financial support, employment, housing, legal assistance and community sensitization measures.

The Return and Reintegration (R&R) framework internationally developed by IOM and Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) programmes help countries like the Philippines, Colombia, Nigeria, etc, in the Global South to have frameworks integrated into migration governance. India lacks a comprehensive reintegration policy at the national level. Though there are state level efforts like the Non Resident Keralite (NRK) Women’ s Cell by NORKA, Kerala, such interventions are fragmented and limited.

At times, community interventions in host countries support destitute woman. Gurmit Kaur, an elderly Sikh woman from Smethwick, England was able to secure widespread community support and campaigns in her favour that stalled the process while facing deportation. But in the absence of institutional frameworks and protection measures with strict enforcement, such instances remain as exceptional cases.

A well-structured return support system can ensure transparency in handling deportees acknowledging their overseas experiences. Collecting gender sensitive data, running support cells assisted by social workers, providing livelihood assistance and awareness campaigns could be preliminary steps to address the disproportionate impact on women deportees, especially those facing forced and involuntary deportation. Deportee Indian women need structured reintegration support services to rebuild their lives and, without significant reforms, thousands of women will continue to bear the cost of deportation in times of globally rising anti-immigrant waves

Dr Parvathy Poornima teaches at St Joseph’s University, Bangalore. She holds a PhD from JNU. She’s a full time mom navigating her career and passion with perseverance