A United States aircraft is set to arrive at Amritsar airport on February 15, transporting 119 Indian nationals, marking the second group of deportees returned under the ongoing immigration enforcement measures of the Donald Trump administration. Another flight is anticipated to bring additional deportees on February 16. This follows the earlier deportation of 104 Indian immigrants to Amritsar on February 5. Many of these individuals had utilized unauthorized pathways, often at significant financial cost, to reach the United States, only to be detained and subsequently sent back.The Punjab government has expressed apprehensions regarding these deportations, with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema questioning the preference for Amritsar as the landing site for these flights over other states. He suggested that this choice is a deliberate effort by the NDA-led central government to undermine the reputation of Punjab, stating, “Why not Haryana or Gujarat? This is clearly an attempt by the BJP to tarnish Punjab’s image.
This aircraft should land in Ahmedabad instead,” as reported to India Today. The deportation process has also faced political backlash, particularly concerning allegations that deportees were handcuffed and restrained during their flights. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram raised these issues in the Rajya Sabha, inquiring whether External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had addressed the matter with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior to the deportations and whether the Indian government had protested the US policy regarding the treatment of deportees, including the consideration of using an Indian aircraft for their return.
