The Enforcement Directorate is investigating at least 4,200 Indians who have immigrated to the United States in the past three years allegedly without proper documentation, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

The central agency said it has discovered thousands of suspicious transactions linked to Indians going to Canada on an education visa and then immigrating to the United States illegally. The Enforcement Directorate found the pattern while investigating agents in Gujarat and Punjab allegedly involved in sending Indians to the US without the required documents.

This comes against the backdrop of the US deporting more than 100 undocumented Indian migrants on a military aircraft earlier this week. The deportation was part of a wider crackdown by US President Donald Trump’s administration. It was the first military deportation of Indian citizens since Trump returned to office on January 20.

Of those who were deported, 25 were women, 12 were minors and 79 were men. The flight also carried 11 crew members and 45 US officials.

The central agency began its probe on the basis of a case filed by the Gujarat Police in January 2023 in connection with the death of four members of an Indian family. They had frozen to death in 2022 while trying to cross over into the US from Canada.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, the agents under probe secure admission for their clients in Canadian colleges, allowing them to get an education visa, reported The Indian Express.

Once the clients reach Canada, they never enrol in the colleges and their fees – ranging from Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore – are refunded. This has no effect on their visa, allowing them to be taken to the US via illegal land routes.

The probe found that the agents charged a commission of Rs 40 to 50 lakh to facilitate the illegal immigration.

“It is found during investigation that the payment of fees to colleges based in Canada was made through EbixCash, a Financial Service Company which provides foreign remittance services,” The Indian Express quoted the agency’s report as saying. “Upon enquiries with EbixCash, it is gathered that around 8,500 transactions were made to various colleges based in Canada on behalf of students of Gujarat from September 9 2021 to August 9 2024.”

Of the total transactions, nearly 4,300 were duplications, where the same transaction was recorded twice, the report added. Thus, a total of 4,200 transactions are now under the purview of the Enforcement Directorate’s probe.

On Thursday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Parliament that the process of deporting Indians was not new. He shared data from India’s Bureau of Immigration, showing that 15,668 Indians have been deported from the United States since 2009.

Jaishankar was responding to questions by Opposition leaders about the recent deportation, including why the deportees were cuffed on their hands and legs on the flight back to India.

The minister said they were shackled in keeping with past procedure.

“The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft used by [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement], that has been effective from 2012, provides for the use of restraints,” the external affairs minister told the Rajya Sabha. He said that New Delhi was informed by US authorities “that women and children are not restrained”.