New Delhi: A US military plane carrying 119 Indians who illegally entered the North American nation is set to land in Amritsar Saturday, ThePrint has learnt. The latest deportation flight comes merely a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with US President Donald J. Trump at the White House.
The deportation of more Indians was expected after the military plane carrying 104 passengers landed in Amritsar on 5 February, 2025. The use of restraints on the Indians onboard this flight had led to attacks by the Opposition. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar later stated in Parliament that it had been the norm since 2012.
A total of 15,903 Indians have been deported by the US since 2009, according to the data released by Jaishankar to Parliament. With the latest flight, the number will cross 16,000.
Repatriation of illegal immigrants is the central plank of President Trump’s domestic agenda. The issue was discussed by the two leaders during Prime Minister Modi’s visit Thursday.
India has maintained that it will welcome repatriation of individuals as long as they have been verified as Indian citizens. Modi said as much during the joint press conference with Trump in Washington D.C.
The two leaders agreed to, “strengthen law enforcement cooperation to take decisive action against illegal immigration networks, organized crime syndicates, including narco-terrorists, human and arms traffickers,” in the joint statement published after their meeting.
The issue of illegal migration by Indians is closely linked to larger criminal networks, as per statements made by Modi and Jaishankar.
“Both leaders emphasized that the evolution of the world into a global workplace calls for putting in place innovative, mutually advantageous and secure mobility frameworks. In this regard, the leaders committed to streamlining avenues for legal mobility of students and professionals, and facilitating short-term tourist and business travel, while also aggressively addressing illegal immigration and human trafficking by taking strong action against bad actors, criminal facilitators, and illegal immigration networks to promote mutual security for both countries,” added the joint statement.
In October last year another deportation flight carrying around 100 Indians, who had entered the US illegally, landed in Amritsar. About 7,25,000 Indians as of 2022, live in the US without proper travel documents, according to data released by Pew Research Center.
Between 1 October, 2023 and 30 September, 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection apprehended 90,415 Indians who attempted to enter the US without proper documentation. About 25,000 of them attempted to enter the country via the Mexican border while around 43,000 made the trek to the US via the Canadian border.
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