A U.S military plane deporting over a hundred Indian immigrants has landed in India’s northern province of Punjab.
The C-17 jet, which took off from Texas on Tuesday, arrived at Amritsar’s Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
This comes as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet Mr Trump in the White House next week after he agreed his country would “do what’s right” in accepting US deportations.
Mass deportation of undocumented people living in the US of various nationalities was one of the key policies under the second Trump administration.
Those who returned were people identified from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Authorities in Punjab have made arrangements to receive and process deportees.
A total of 48 deportees are under the age of 25, including 12 minors and 25 women with the youngest passenger being four years old.
In terms of regional distribution, the highest number of deportees – 33 each – are from Gujarat and Haryana, followed by 30 from Punjab. Maharashtra has three deportees, while Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh each have two.
The deportation has kicked off a political storm in India with the opposition Congress Party calling out the ruling Modi’ government for staying silent on Indians being “humiliated”.
India has said it will cooperate with the US and was ready to accept the deported Indians after verification.
New Delhi said it was against illegal immigration, mainly because it is linked to several forms of organised crime, and has not objected to the US deporting its citizens.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said earlier this week the deportation flights were an effective way to stem the flow of illegal migration, which he said was destructive and destabilising.
It is however not the first time the US has deported Indian immigrants in expensive military or chartered flights.
India’s junior External Affairs Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh told India’s parliament that 519 Indian nationals were deported to India between November 2023 and October 2024, citing US government data.
Between 2018 and 2023, a total of 5,477 Indians have been deported by the US to India, according to official US immigration and customs data.
More similar flights are expected. However, the exact number of undocumented Indian immigrants in the US remains unknown.
The US is believed to have identified about 18,000 undocumented Indians who could be sent back.
