The United States will deport at least eight Pakistani nationals via a special flight that will depart on the 26th of February and arrive in Pakistan on the 27th of February, WION has learned from reliable sources. This will be the first direct deportation flight from the United States to Pakistan, which will be carrying illegal migrants.

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The flight, which will have illegal Pakistani migrants who are currently in custody of the US, will land at Rawalpindi’s Nur Khan airbase on Thursday.

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The United States administration had sent about 10 odd names for verification of nationality to the Pakistani authorities, out of which eight were verified, leading to the deportation flight being arranged by the US administration.

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The Pakistani diaspora in the United States is small and comprises of about 680,000 nationals in numbers.

Illegal migrants from Pakistan don’t even make up a fraction of the figure, it is said.

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The exact number of undocumented Pakistanis in the US was disputed due to varying calculation methods. Estimates for the year 2022 ranged from 7,000 to 15,000, according to the US department of homeland security data.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier that the deportation flights were an effective way to stem the flow of illegal migration, which he said has a destructive and destabilising effect.

The US State Department further said that such deportations send a message of deterrence to other people who may be considering migrating illegally.

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