63 of 104 on board first flight of US deportees from Punjab, Haryana

80% of the illegal immigrants on board are in their 20s and early 30s, while 12 are below the age of 16, including two children aged four and five years.

The US military C-17 aircraft carrying 104 deported Indian migrants that will land in Amritsar on Wednesday afternoon has 30 passengers from Punjab, 33 each from neighbouring Haryana and Gujarat, three each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and two from Chandigarh.

Security stepped up at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport in Amritsar on Wednesday. A US military plane carrying 104 illegal immigrants is to land at the airport in the afternoon. (Sameer Sehgal/HT)

This is the first lot of illegal immigrants being deported after Donald Trump assumed office as President last month and ordered a crackdown on those who entered the US through “donkey routes” or other illegal means. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit the US next week on Trump’s invite.

Of the total 104 passengers, 12 are below the age of 16, including two children aged four and five years. The four-year-old belongs to Mehsana in Gujarat.

The oldest passenger on board is 44-year-old Gurwinder Singh from Mumbai.

Among the 30 natives from Punjab, the maximum number of six belong to Kapurthala district in the state’s NRI belt of Doaba.

The list accessed by Hindustan Times shows that five deportees are from Amritsar, four each from Jalandhar and Patiala, two each from Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and one each from Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Sangrur, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran.

Among the 104 passengers, almost 80% are in their 20s and early 30s.