Reacting to a brewing controversy over the fact that 104 Indian illegal immigrants were deported by the US ‘in handcuffs’, the spokesperson for the United States Embassy in New Delhi said he cannot go into details but that the immigration laws against illegal immigrants are executed against all.
“I can’t go into further detail on the flight. I can share that 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,” the spokesperson said.
VIDEO | Gujarat: Indians deported from the US arrive at Ahmedabad airport. A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed at Amritsar, Punjab, yesterday. Sources said that 33 of the 104 deportees are from Gujarat.#GujaratNews
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 6, 2025
(Full video available on PTI… pic.twitter.com/2y1P9Zoo6R
On Wednesday, 104 illegal immigrants from India, including 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab and three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were flown back in a C-17 ‘Globemaster’ military aircraft that landed in Amritsar.
Meanwhile, Michael W. Banks, chief of the US Border Patrol (USBP), posted on ‘X’: “USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight using military transport. This mission underscores our commitment to enforcing immigration laws and ensuring swift removals. If you cross illegally, you will be removed.”
Indian media reports quoted deportees as saying that their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the long journey where the aircraft flew from Texas, landed in Guam for refueling before continuing its onward journey to Amritsar.
On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said in Parliament that deportation of illegal immigrants from the US is a “standard procedure”, and that New Delhi was talking to the US authorities to point out that Indians are not mistreated during their flight home. He pointed out that using restraints on such deportees are part of the US standard operating procedure.
At the same time, Jaishankar also added that “the House should understand that our focus must be on a strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry”.
Opposition MPs had protested in Parliament over the reports with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor saying that handcuffing the Indian deportees “was an insult to the dignity of the country”.
