At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the United States to meet US President Donald Trump, America will continue to illegal Indian immigrants back. As per reports, the US is likely to send another batch of approximately 180 illegal immigrants to India. This will be the second batch of immigrants to be deported by the US government. According to reports, these are the people who entered the US by spending lakhs of rupees through the 'donkey route' or other illegal means and have been living there for the last one to three years. The report said that although official confirmation is awaited from the Indian authorities, reports quoted sources in the US administration who stated that deportation may take place this week.
India Today reported that a second flight carrying Indian immigrants deported from the United States will land in Amritsar on February 15. As a result, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema slammed the BJP after the Cabinet Meeting while addressing the media, however, said that there are unconfirmed reports. Cheema accused the BJP that making the US aircraft land in Amritsar, was an attempt to defame Punjabis. Cheema questioned why the flight was being routed to Amritsar, suggesting it reflected the BJP-led Central Government's bias against Punjabis. He urged the Centre to redirect the flight to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, as the majority of the deportees are reportedly from other states.
For the unversed, a US military aircraft carrying the first batch of 104 illegal Indian immigrants, with the highest number of 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat, reached Amritsar in Punjab last Wednesday. A total of 30 deportees were residents of Punjab. The US military C-17 aircraft landed at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport amid tight security.
Three each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra while two from Chandigarh. The deportees include 25 women and 12 minors, with the youngest passenger being just four years old. Forty-eight people are below the age of 25. The flight, which took off from Texas on Tuesday, also carried 11 crew members and 45 US officials overseeing the deportation process.
According to an India Today report, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had earlier confirmed that the US has informed India about 487 potential Indian nationals who have been issued deportation orders.
India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, while addressing the Rajya Sabha recently, had informed that the deportation of Indian immigrants from the US has been going on for many years and 15,668 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported since 2009. He stressed that although the process is not new, the government is committed to ensuring fair treatment of its citizens.