Uzbekistan’s Labor Migration Agency said on December 21 that 119 Uzbek nationals who had illegally entered the United States, mostly via Mexico, had been flown back to Tashkent, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reported.
In a video the agency placed on Telegram, one of those expelled said he paid $5,000 to individuals who had arranged a Mexican-U.S. border crossing for him in September. In October, Fox News TV said more than 13,600 Uzbeks had illegally entered the United States since 2021. In August, Washington said a network attempting to smuggle people from Uzbekistan into the United States had been stopped.
