- February 16, 2025
US Military Aircraft Carrying Second Batch Of Indian Immigrants Lands In Amritsar – News18
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This is the second United States military aircraft which has landed at Amritsar airport with deported Indian illegal immigrants
A US military aircraft carrying illegal Indian immigrants upon its landing at the Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, in Amritsar. (File Image/PTI)
A United States military aircraft with a second batch of 119 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar, Punjab on Saturday.
This is the second such aircraft to arrive at Amritsar airport in the span of 10 days as part of the deportation of illegal immigrants by the Donald Trump regime.
The first batch was deported on February 5 when 104 Indians were deported and sent back to Amritsar in a US military plane. Another plane with 157 deportees is set to land in India on Sunday.
The C-17 military aircraft with deportees landed at the Amritsar International Airport at 11:40 pm on Saturday.
Among the deportees, 67 were from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
The aircraft landed a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met United States President Donald Trump and both the leaders promised to address this issue.
PM Modi had also underlined the need to end the ecosystem which has exploited Indian citizens and “fooled (them) with big dreams” to travel to the US illegally.
Punjab CM Mann Slams Centre Over Deportation
In the wake of the return of deportees to Amritsar, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann criticised the central government and said that this is an effort to “defame Punjab and Punjabis” by turning the city into “a deportation centre”.
“This is a deliberate attempt to send out the message that only Punjabis travel illegally,” said Mann and added that the Central government should “divert the aircraft to Delhi or Ahmedabad. The Punjab government will bring back Punjabis with honour. But we maintain that illegal immigration is not just Punjab’s problem, but a national one.”
Political Uproar Over Last Batch Of Deportees
In the last batch of deportees, 33 were from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, 3 from Maharashtra, 3 from Uttar Pradesh and 2 from Chandigarh.
The first batch of deportees were sent in US military C-17 aircraft from San Antonio, Texas.
The deportees were chained and in shackles when they were brought back which had caused a political uproar in the country.
Reacting to the political criticism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the Central government has been speaking with the US government authorities to ensure that deportees do not face any mistreatment.
He further said that the deportation of illegal migrants in the US is not a new development and has continued for years.
The US Embassy in India, reacting to the uproar, said, “Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States”.
“It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens,” said an embassy spokesperson.
- Location :
Amritsar, India, India
