USA to crack down on owners, managers of ‘Dunki’ flights

USA to crack down on owners, managers of ‘Dunki’ flights

New York: The US will be cracking down on “Dunki” flights with the State Department announcing a new visa restriction policy that targets owners, and senior officials of charter flights, and ground and maritime transportation companies that enable the irregular migration of people from Third World countries to the US.

This new policy expands and supersedes the Nicaragua 3C policy on charter flights issued in November last year when charter flights into Nicaragua designed primarily for irregular migrants had become an epidemic. In one such case, France had detained 276 Indians aboard a charter flight to Nicaragua in December last year on suspicions of human trafficking.

“In a growing trend, charter flight companies have been offering flights—and charging extortion-level prices—that put migrants onto a dangerous overland path north to the US border. Many of these migrants lack a legal basis for entering or remaining in the United States and are often returned to their home countries, having wasted significant personal resources and put themselves and their families at risk,” said the US State Department.

The new policy targets transportation operations that prey on vulnerable migrants and facilitate irregular migration around the world and to the US. “No one should profit from vulnerable migrants—not smugglers, private companies, public officials, or governments. We will continue engaging with governments and the private sector, both within and outside the region, to eliminate this exploitative practice,’’ said the State Department.