NEW DELHI, Feb 16: A plane carrying 119 illegal immigrant Indians arrived from the United States at Punjab’s Amritsar airport on Saturday night, 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. There was no immediate information if the second batch of deportees were also similarly shackled and restrained during the flight to India.
(Manas Dasgupta)
