The movecomes amid increasing US immigration enforcement measures, particularly targeting individuals who entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas.
Clarion India
AMRITSAR — The C-17 US military aircraft that took off from an airport in Texas on Tuesday carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar on Wednesday as a part of President Donald Trump’s campaign against illegal immigrants.
Since Trump took over as president, US has increased the mmigration enforcement measures, particularly targeting individuals who entered the country illegally or overstayed their visas.
Some local media reported that the flight was bringing 205 people back, while others put the number at 104, and that they were mainly from the northern state of Punjab and the western state of Gujarat, according to media reports.
The deportees include 25 women and 12 minors, with the youngest passenger being just four years old. Forty-eight individuals are below the age of 25.
The Trump administration has increasingly turned to the military to help carry out its immigration agenda, using military aircraft to deport migrants and opening military bases to house them.
Although illegal Indian immigrants have been deported home by previous US administrations, it is the first time Washington has used a military aircraft for the purpose. It is also the farthest destination so far for such flights using a military aircraft, reports Reuters.
Immediately after he took over as US President, Trump has started cracking down on illegal immigrants. Earlier, US military aircraft have flown back immigrants deported to Guatemala, Peru and Honduras.
The first round of deportation of Indian nationals has taken amid reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is flying to the US next week. This will be his first visit after Trump took over as US President for the second time.
The US President has reportedly said that Prime Minister Modi had assured him that India “will do what’s right” when it comes to taking back illegal Indian immigrants. According to a Bloomberg News report, India and the US have identified 18,000-odd Indian migrants who entered the US illegally.
“For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came,” Trump told reporters last month.
The Pentagon has said it plans to deport more than 5,000 migrants held by US authorities, and Reuters reported last week that a flight to Guatemala used for the purpose likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant.
External Affairs Minister of India Dr S Jaishankar has reportedly said New Delhi is open to the “legitimate return” of Indian nationals living ‘illegally’ abroad, including in the US. — With inputs from agencies
