The US military plane has finally landed in Amritsar. The US C-17 military aircraft was carrying 104 Indians who are said to be illegal immigrants of the USA. It took off from an airbase in Texas yesterday.
As per media reports, each of the deported Indian nationals onboard the flight is "verified". This is indicative that New Delhi is involved in the process. This is the first batch of deportation of Indians back to India and there may be more such batches in future. The massive crackdown on illegal immigrants unleashed by President Donald Trump has put pressure on nationals of many countries that entered the USA with dubious means. Earlier, US military aircraft deported immigrants back to Guatemala, Peru and Honduras.
The first batch of deportation of Indian nationals has taken place amid reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the USA next week. This will be Modi’s first visit after Trump took over as US President for the second time.
Trump mentioned the Indian PM saying that Modi assured him that India would do the right thing concerning illegal Indian immigrants and take them back. According to an international media report, India and the US have identified 18,000 Indian migrants who entered the US illegally.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has said earlier that New Delhi is open to the legitimate return of Indian nationals living illegally in the US.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, at a press briefing, was quoted to have said, “For Indians not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world, if they are Indian nationals and they are overstaying, or they are in a particular country without proper documentation, we will take them back, provided documents are shared with us so that we can verify their nationality and that they are indeed Indians. If that happens to be the case, we will take things forward and facilitate their return to India”.