India engaging with US to ensure deportees not mistreated: Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said the government is engaging with the US to ensure that deported Indians are not mistreated, underlining that the focus should be on strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry.
The minister's statement in the Rajya Sabha came amid opposition protests over the treatment meted out to 104 Indians, who were deported from the United States.
"We are of course engaging the US government to ensure the returning deportees are not mistreated in any manner during the flight," Jaishankar said.
"At the same time, the House will appreciate that our focus should be on strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry, while taking steps to ease visas for the legitimate travellers," he said.
The minister stated that the process of deportation is not new.
"The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft provides for the use of restraints. However, we have been informed that women and children were not restrained," he said.
"Further need of deportees during transit related to food and other necessities, including possible medical emergencies, are attended to. During toilet breaks deportees are temporarily unrestrained, if needed. This is applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as military aircraft," he said.
"There has been no change from past procedures for the flight undertaken by the US on February 5," he added.
Jaishankar said as many as 15,668 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported to India from the US since 2009.
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.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
The deportees claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and that they were unshackled only after landing in Amritsar.
