Ahmad Adil
06 February 2025•Update: 06 February 2025
NEW DELHI
India stated on Thursday that it was in discussions with the US government following outrage over the mistreatment of deported citizens, with opposition parties condemning the handcuffing of returning migrants as “unacceptable.”
A US military aircraft carrying 104 deported Indians arrived in Punjab on Wednesday, marking the first deportation of illegal immigrants to India since US President Donald Trump took office.
Deportees reported being handcuffed and shackled throughout the journey. In response, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament that New Delhi was “engaging with the US government to ensure that deported citizens are not mistreated in any way during their flight.”
Addressing questions in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament, Jaishankar clarified that the deportation process was not new and had been ongoing for years. He also confirmed that the Indian government had verified the deportees and cleared the aircraft for landing.
The statement came after protests erupted in parliament, with opposition members demanding answers from the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the handling of deported Indians.
Michael Banks, head of the US Customs and Border Protection (USBP), shared a video on X showing the deportees with hands and legs shackled. The video was widely circulated on social media in India.
“USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport. This mission underscores our commitment to enforcing immigration laws and ensuring swift removals. If you cross illegally, you will be removed,” Banks wrote on X.
A 2022 Pew Research Center report showed that India had the largest number of unauthorized immigrants in the US, totaling 725,000.
The opposition Indian National Congress party condemned the mistreatment, with senior leader Rahul Gandhi sharing a video from a deportee. The man described enduring 40 hours with hands and feet shackled, unable to move, calling the experience “worse than hell.”
“Prime Minister, listen to this man’s pain. Indians deserve Dignity and Humanity, not Handcuffs,” Gandhi wrote on X.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation also joined the protests, "against the failure of the Modi government to take up the inhumane treatment of Indians with the Trump administration."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the issue of illegal Indian immigrants during a meeting with Jaishankar in Washington last month.
Indian Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit the US next week for talks with President Trump, according to the White House.
