“US Intensifies Crackdown on ‘Dunki’ Flight Owners and Managers”

The United States is taking a firm stance against “Dunki” flights, with the State Department unveiling a new visa restriction policy aimed at owners and senior officials of charter flights, as well as ground and maritime transportation companies involved in facilitating irregular migration from Third World countries to the US.

This new policy builds upon and replaces the Nicaragua 3C policy on charter flights, which was issued in response to a surge in charter flights into Nicaragua catering primarily to irregular migrants. One high-profile incident involved France detaining 276 Indians aboard a charter flight to Nicaragua in December last year on suspicion of human trafficking.

Charter flight companies have increasingly been offering flights at exorbitant prices that lead migrants onto dangerous overland routes northward to the US border. Many of these migrants lack a legal basis for entering or remaining in the United States and often end up being returned to their home countries, having incurred significant personal costs and endangering themselves and their families.

The new policy targets transportation operations that exploit vulnerable migrants and facilitate irregular migration globally and to the US. “No one should profit from vulnerable migrants — neither smugglers, private companies, public officials, nor governments. We will continue to work with governments and the private sector, both regionally and globally, to eradicate this exploitative practice,” stated the US State Department.