Two flights carrying 119 Indian migrants deported from the US are set to arrive at the Guru Ram Dass International Airport in Amritsar on February 15 and 16.
According to anonymous sources, both flights are scheduled to land at 10:05 PM on these dates. The majority of the deportees are from Punjab (67), followed by Haryana (33), Gujarat (8), Uttar Pradesh (3), Maharashtra (2), Goa (2), Rajasthan (2), and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, as reported by PTI.
The deportees include individuals who entered the US through Mexico and other routes, and some allegedly destroyed their passports upon illegally entering the country, officials said.
These flights represent the second group of deportees returning to India amid a significant crackdown on illegal immigration by the Donald Trump administration. Earlier, on February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from various states had landed in Amritsar.
Among them, 33 were from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, 3 each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and 2 from Chandigarh.
Some deportees claimed they were handcuffed throughout the journey and were only unshackled after landing in Amritsar. This sparked widespread outrage in India, with the opposition urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the issue with the US during his visit to Washington.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the US of treating the Indian migrants “worse than garbage.”
Following the outcry, New Delhi raised concerns with Washington regarding the treatment of the deportees.
