A US military transport aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster III landed at Amritsar International Airport on Saturday, February 15, carrying around 119 Indian nationals.
The maximum deportees 67, are from Punjab. Subsequently, 33 people are from Haryana, 8 from Gujarat, 3 from Uttar Pradesh, 2 each from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Goa, and 1 person each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
This follows the deportation of 104 individuals earlier, marking another phase in the US government’s intensified crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
Deportations will continue every other week till all illegal immigrants are returned to their home countries, according to the official sources.
Their removal is part of an ongoing crackdown by US immigration authorities on individuals who entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas.
The deportations come in the immediate wake of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, where he met President Donald Trump to discuss key bilateral issues, including immigration.
During a joint press conference, Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to repatriating verified Indian nationals while stressing the need to combat human trafficking networks that exploit vulnerable migrants.
Don’t make Amritsar deport centre: Punjab CM slams Centre
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann kept up his attack on the Centre over the landing of US planes carrying illegal Indian immigrants at Amritsar airport and asked it not to make the holy city a “deport centre”.
Talking to reporters at the airport, Mann continued his attack on the Centre and said, “Do not make our holy city (Amritsar) a deport centre.” There are many airbases in the country and the flight can be landed at any one of them, the Punjab chief minister said.
He said Amritsar is known for the Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir, Ram Tirath temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Gobindgarh Fort. “Will they allow landing (of deportation flights) at Vatican City, if they (deportees) hail from there?” Mann posed.
Asked whether the second batch of deportees will be in shackles, Mann said they do not have any information on whether they are handcuffed and chained.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have taken up the issue with US President Donald Trump and should have told him that India would send its own plane to bring them back, the chief minister said.
Other countries are sending their own planes to bring back deportees, he noted.
On Friday, Mann questioned the decision to land another plane at the Amritsar airport and accused the Centre of trying to defame Punjab as part of a conspiracy.
“The BJP-led Centre always discriminates against Punjab. It does not let go of any chance of defaming the state,” Mann had said “As part of a conspiracy, they are trying to defame Punjab and Punjabis.” Mann also asked the Centre under which criteria the Amritsar airport was chosen to land the second aircraft.
“What is the criterion for choosing Amritsar? The Centre and the Ministry of External Affairs should tell me. Why did you choose Amritsar and not the national capital? You did this to defame Punjab and Punjabis,” Mann had alleged.
US deported 15668 illegal Indian immigrants since 2009
As many as 15,668 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported to India from the US since 2009, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar informed the Rajya Sabha.
Making a statement in the Upper House after opposition parties stepped up their criticism over the treatment meted out to 104 illegal Indian immigrants who landed in Amritsar on Wednesday in a US military plane, Jaishankar asserted that the process of deportation has been ongoing for several years and is not new.
Citing data available with Indian law enforcement authorities, the minister said in 2009, 734 were deported, 799 in 2010, 597 in 2011, 530 in 2012, and 515 in 2013.
As per Jaishankar’s statement, in 2014 when the NDA government came to power, 591 were deported, followed by 708 in 2015. In 2016, a total of 1,303 were deported, 1,024 in 2017, 1,180 in 2018.
The highest deportation was witnessed in 2019 with 2,042 illegal Indian immigrants being sent back to the country. In 2020 the deportation number was 1,889; 805 in 2021; 862 in 2022; 617 in 2023; 1,368 last year, and 104 so far this year.
