Amritsar/Chandigarh: A US military aircraft carrying 116 illegal Indian immigrants arrived at Amritsar International Airport late on Saturday night, marking the second such batch of deportees under the Donald Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
The C-17 aircraft landed around 11.35 pm, slightly delayed from its expected arrival time of 10:00 pm. This flight is the second in a series of deportations, and it is not immediately clear whether the deportees were in shackles, as was the case with the first batch.
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After undergoing immigration and background checks, the deportees, mostly from Punjab, were transported to their homes in police vehicles at around 4:30 am on Sunday morning. The first batch of deported immigrants, which arrived on February 5, included individuals who had been lured by agents promising a better life in the US, only to be detained at the border and sent back in shackles.
This second batch of deportees includes 65 individuals from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, 8 from Gujarat, and smaller numbers from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Many of the deportees are aged between 18 and 30 years.
Family reunions at Amritsar airport
Some family members of the deportees arrived at the airport to welcome them home. Punjab’s NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Power Minister Harbhajan Singh met with the deportees at the airport. Dhaliwal reassured them, saying, “The state government stands by them like a rock and asked them not to lose heart.” A third plane, carrying 157 deportees, is expected to land on February 16, sources confirmed.
The families of the deportees, who had often gone into debt by pledging land and cattle to send their relatives abroad, were left shocked and disheartened. One family member shared how a travel agent had promised Daljit Singh, a deportee from Hoshiarpur, a direct flight to the US, only for him to be sent on an illegal and dangerous route, known as the "donkey route."
Punjab CM criticises deportation flights to Amritsar
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann strongly criticised the Centre for allowing deportation flights to land in Amritsar, saying, “Do not make our holy city a deport centre.” Mann visited the airport and promised that the Punjab government had made arrangements to send the deportees back to their hometowns.
Mann also offered to arrange transport for deportees from Haryana, though the Haryana government has already made its own plans for repatriation. Deportees from other states will be flown to Delhi and then sent home.
Political tensions over deportation arrangements
Mann questioned why Amritsar, rather than other air bases in India, was chosen as the landing site for deportation flights. He also pointed out that the demand for direct flights from Amritsar to the US had been ignored for years.
BJP leader Tarun Chugh accused Mann of playing politics with the issue, while Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa criticised the AAP government for failing to tackle human trafficking. He asked Mann how many travel agents had been booked for human trafficking in the past three years.
To tackle the issue of human trafficking, the Punjab government recently formed a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General of Police, NRI Affairs, Praveen Sinha. The team is tasked with investigating complaints against fraudulent travel agents, and the Director General of Police (DGP) has called on the public to come forward with any information about such rackets.
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Published: 16 Feb 2025, 07:26 am IST
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