Amid the Donald Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to force illegal immigrants out of the US, a US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants landed on Wednesday (February 5) in Amritsar, a city in the northern state of Punjab. This is the first such deportation flight to India under the new US administration amid a push that might affect thousands of people from various nationalities.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the US embassy in New Delhi confirmed that the deportation flight was a result of America tightening immigration laws and removing illegal migrants. The move comes just days before Indian PM Narendra Modi’s scheduled meet with President Trump in Washington DC.
A list of passengers accessed by Firstpost reveals that a total of 104 Indians, whose identities have been confirmed by Indian authorities, would be deported by the US in the first batch.
Among the deportees, 33 are from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and two from Chandigarh. There are a total of 79 male passengers and 25 female.
Indian national daily Hindustan Times quoted a Punjab minister as saying that most of the deportees had entered the US with valid work permits which later expired. According to the NRI affairs minister, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, some had also taken the ‘donkey route’, referring to illegal pathways.
The paper quoted an anonymous Indian official as saying that there could be more than 18,000 Indian illegal immigrants currently residing in the US.
Officials from Punjab state have also confirmed that a C-17 military transport is on the way to Amritsar, carrying people mainly from northern Indian states. State police and security officials have already been asked to make necessary arrangements, according to media reports.
Last month, India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that New Delhi always opposed illegal immigration due to links to organised crime. “New Delhi will take back all Indians who have either over-stayed in the US or are there without documentation,” Jaiswal said.
According to reports, Indians make up the third-largest group of illegal immigrants in the US, following Mexico and El Salvador. A Pew Research Center survey claimed there could be more than 725,000 undocumented Indian nationals in the North American country.
(With inputs from agencies)
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33 each from Haryana, Gujarat among 104 Indians deported by Trump administration; 30 from Punjab
