Second US military flight brings 117 deportees, men in ‘shackles’ again

A US military plane carrying 117 illegal Indian immigrants, including 65 from Punjab, landed at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport at 11.32 pm on Saturday, said officials.

Apart from the 65 Punjabis, the flight brought back 33 persons from Haryana, eight Gujarat, three Uttar Pradesh and two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, said the officials. One deportee each was from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Five of the deportees were women.

It was the second such batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration within 10 days as part of its promised crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Sources said unlike the first flight, women were not handcuffed and chained this time. The shackling of the deportees during the long flight was widely criticised in India. In response, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had assured that the government was engaging with US officials to ensure deportees were treated with dignity. He emphasised that while immigration laws must be upheld, humane treatment should not be compromised.

Immigration officials, Punjab Police personnel and representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Punjab Government were among those present at the airport. A large number of relatives too were waiting anxiously.

Considering the exhaustive journey, the local administration had made elaborate arrangements to receive the deportees and had also kept medics ready. An official said arrangements had been made for the overnight stay of deportees from other states, who would depart for their native places tomorrow morning.

On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian illegals had landed at Amritsar. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, and 30 from Punjab. Yet another flight carrying 157 deportees is expected to land on February 16, said officials.