On February 15 and 16, two aircraft carrying undocumented immigrants from the United States are anticipated to land at Guru Ram Dass International Airport in Amritsar. 119 Indian migrants who were deported from the United States will be transported on the flights.
According to officials who spoke to The Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity, the aircraft is expected to land on February 15 and 16 at 10:05 p.m.
With 67 individuals returning from the United States, Punjab has the largest number of deportees going back to India. Haryana (33), Gujarat (8), Uttar Pradesh (3), Maharashtra (2), Goa (2), Rajasthan (2), and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir come after Punjab, according to PTI.
Through Mexico and other channels, the deportees who were meant to return to India infiltrated the United States. These deportees allegedly tore their passports after unlawfully entering the United States.
Following US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the two aircraft that are slated to arrive on February 15 and February 16 will represent the second wave of deportees returning to India.
A US military plane transporting 104 undocumented immigrants from different states touched down in Amritsar on February 5. Thirty-three of them deported were from Gujarat and Haryana, followed by thirty from Punjab, three from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
There were allegations that the deportees were handcuffed during the voyage following the arrival of the first tranche. Outrage spread across the country as a result, and the administration came under fire from the opposition parties for mistreating 104 undocumented Indian immigrants who had arrived in Amritsar.
Congress Party chairman Randeep Singh Surjewala said that 19 of the deportees were women who were shackled for 40 hours and had little access to restrooms while being transported.
He also added
“Is this indicative of how one behaves with terrorists or militants, or is this a humane way to deal with Indians,”.
The topic of US deportations was discussed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the budget session of Parliament. According to him, this time around, the standard operating procedure (SOP), which has been in place since 2012, is also being followed.
An executive order that “suspends the physical entry of aliens engaged in an invasion of the United States through the southern border” was signed by President Donald Trump on January 22.
According to Bloomberg, about 18,000 undocumented Indian immigrants were identified by the US and India in January and were scheduled to be deported. It’s still unknown how many illegal immigrants actually reside in the US, though.
