NEW DELHI, Feb 7: The Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Friday that India has registered its concern with the United States authorities over the alleged mistreatment of deported Indian citizens.
Replying to questions on deportation, Mr Misri said at a special briefing, “The real cancer is the misleading of innocents to undertake illegal immigration, and the people who do this must be prosecuted.”
Mr Misri added that the MEA has flagged the issues of “mistreatment of illegal migrants deported to India,” and said they “will continue to do.” He said more U.S. deportation flights could follow and India has heard from U.S. that there are “487 Indian citizens who are “ready for removal” from the U.S.” The information about 298 has already been shared.
This announcement comes in the backdrop of a political row over 104 Indian migrants who were sent back to India “chained and shackled” on a C-17 US military aircraft on Wednesday.
A US military aircraft carrying the migrants landed in Amritsar, marking the first mass deportation under President Donald Trump’s administration. The deportees, who had attempted to enter the United States through illegal channels, were piled up in an aircraft and were reportedly shackled and restrained throughout the flight, only to be freed upon arrival in India.
“Their legal position and status insofar as the US justice system is concerned, we have some information on the number of immigrants concerned. We are working with such numbers made available to us,” Mr Misri said.
On the US using military aircraft to deport Indians, the Foreign Secretary said: “This particular deportation is somewhat different compared to earlier flights. In the US system itself, it was described as a national security operation.”
The deportation, and the manner in which it was carried out, became a political flashpoint with the Opposition asking why the Centre did not intervene to bring them back on its terms. The Centre defended its position, citing international obligations, but Opposition leaders pointed out that the Indian government had previously arranged special flights to evacuate its citizens from crisis zones.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday defended the government’s stance, arguing that every country has an obligation to take back its nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad. He also said the deportations were carried out by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under standard procedures in place since 2012.
“The deportation by the US is organised and executed by ICE authorities. Their standard operating procedure provides for the use of restraints, but we have been informed that women and children are not restrained,” Mr Jaishankar said. He added that the government was engaging with US authorities to ensure that deportees were not mistreated. “It is in our collective interest to encourage legal mobility and discourage illegal movement,” he said.
He had also said the Centre was “seriously considering” enacting a new law to establish a framework which would promote “safe, orderly and regular migration for overseas employment.” The tentatively titled ‘Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2024’ emerged from a report presented in Lok Sabha by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, on Monday.
The US, meanwhile, has defended its decision to send the migrants on a C-17 military aircraft. 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.”
“I cannot 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,” a US Embassy spokesperson said.
The MEA has also announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day working visit to the US from February 12 during which he will meet President Donald Trump. Mr Misri said PM Modi’s visit will give further impetus and direction to India-U.S. bilateral relationship.
Prior to his U.S. visit, Mr Modi will be in France from February 10-12 to co-chair the AI Action Summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. “He will also visit Cadarache, the site of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor of which India is a partner,” Mr Misri said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
