A second flight carrying over 100 Indian illegal migrants deported from the US landed in the northern city of Amritsar on Saturday, days after prime minister Narendra Modi met president Donald Trump in Washington.
The C17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft of the US military returned at least 119 Indian migrants, including 100 from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana. Most of the deportees were men aged 18 to 30, but there were four women and two minors as well, The Indian Express reported.
A third batch of more than 150 illegal immigrants was expected to be deposited in Amritsar on Sunday night.
Indian authorities said arrangements were in place to send the deported people to their home states. While people from the western states of Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra would be sent home on early morning flights, a senior official said, those from Punjab and Haryana would travel by road.
India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, said around 500 Indians were listed for immediate deportation as the Trump administration cracked down on illegal immigration in the US, in fulfilment of a key campaign promise.
Indian illegal migrants often pay smugglers tens of thousands of dollars, raised by mortgaging land or jewellery, to get into the US and other nations in the West.
The first flight of Indian illegal migrants from the US landed in Amritsar earlier this month. The migrants were brought back handcuffed and shackled on a military plane.
A political row erupted shortly after the flight landed with opposition parties calling out the Modi government for staying silent about Indian citizens being “humiliated” in such a manner.
“Looking at the pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated while being deported from the US saddens me as an Indian,” Pawan Khera, the chief spokesperson for the Congress party, said.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, from the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, took aim at Mr Modi himself.
“While Modi was shaking hands with his friend Donald Trump, Indian citizens were being deported in chains on a military aircraft. The chained Indians being sent back are Trump’s return gift to Modi,” he said on Saturday.
Mr Modi’s government previously said it would cooperate with the US on the deportations and was ready to accept the returned Indians after proper verification.
It was against illegal immigration in general, the government said, mainly because it was linked to several forms of organised crime.
“For Indians, not just in the United States but anywhere in the world, if they are Indian nationals, and they are overstaying or they are in a particular country without proper documentation, we will take them back, provided documents are shared with us so that we can verify their nationality that they are indeed Indians,” foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last month.
“If that happens to be the case, then we will take things forward. We will facilitate the return to India.”
