A plane carrying 119 Indians arrived from the United States at Punjab’s Amritsar airport on Saturday, the second such arrival in a span of 10 days, as part of the Donald Trump administration’s crackdown and decision to deport illegal immigrants.
The first round of deportation had taken place on February 5, when a US military plane transported 104 Indians to Amritsar. A third plane with 157 deportees is expected to land in India on Sunday.
The C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US Air Force landed at the Amritsar International Airport close to 11:40 pm on Saturday.
Of the total deportees, 67 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The families of some of them reached the airport to receive them.
Earlier, those deported were from Haryana (33), Gujarat (33), Punjab (30), Maharashtra (3) Uttar Pradesh (3), and Chandigarh (2). They were sent back on the same military aircraft that took off from San Antonio, Texas.
The deportees were shackled and restrained throughout the flight, only to be freed upon arrival in India – a move that triggered a political storm in India, and led to an uproar in both Houses of Parliament during the then ongoing Budget session.
Amid criticism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Centre is engaging with the US to ensure the deportees are not mistreated. He also said the US’ deportation of illegal migrants is not a new development and has been going on for years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in the US earlier this week, said India will take back any of its citizens living illegally in the US. He, however, emphasised that efforts need to be made to end human trafficking.
“Our bigger fight is against that entire ecosystem, and we are confident that President Trump will fully cooperate with India in finishing this ecosystem,” he said.
In its defense, the US Embassy in India said “enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States”. “It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens,” an embassy spokesperson said.
India is the third source of undocumented immigrants in the US after Mexico and El Salvador.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann visited the Amritsar airport earlier in the day and said his government has made arrangements to take the residents of Punjab from among the second batch of deportees to their hometowns.
The deportees who hail from other states will head to Delhi from Amritsar in a flight on Sunday morning and then they will be taken to their respective places, he said.
Mr Mann also attacked the Centre over the landing of the planes at the Amritsar airport and asked it not to make the holy city a “deport centre”.
Most of the deportees belonging to Punjab earlier said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families. However, their dreams were shattered when they were caught on the US border and sent back in shackles.