Two more US flights carrying deported Indian immigrants will arrive in India this week, just days after the Donald Trump administration deported 104 illegal migrants.
The number of Indians who will arrive is not immediately clear. The second flight will land in Amritsar on February 15, followed by another one days later, sources said.
Punjab finance minister Harpal Cheema alleged that the decision to land deportation flights in Amritsar is an attempt by the NDA-led Centre to defame the state. “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,” India Today quoted him saying.
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The development comes amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US to meet Trump during which talks around illegal immigration is expected to be a major issue.
The manner in which the first batch of deportees were sent, handcuffed and legs chained, had triggered a nationwide outrage. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that they were treated “even worse than garbage”. The grand old party has urged Modi to raise the manner of deportations with Trump during his talks.
New Delhi has conveyed its concerns to Washington at the treatment of deportees after widespread outcry in India.
{{/usCountry}}New Delhi has conveyed its concerns to Washington at the treatment of deportees after widespread outcry in India.
{{/usCountry}}The deportations and the harrowing experiences of Indian deportees led the police in Punjab and Haryana to launch a crackdown against dubious travel agents who take huge sums of money and aid illegal migration of Indians to the US.
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Nearly 600 Indians on ‘removal’ list
HT had reported earlier that the US had informed India that 487 “presumed Indian citizens” were served with final removal orders, another 203 illegal migrants were rounded up in sweeps by American authorities, mostly along the border with Mexico, last month.
The first batch of 104 deportations aboard a C-17 military aircraft was part of US efforts to send back those 203 detained individuals. Of the remaining 99 of that group, India had reportedly verified the identities of 96 individuals who are expected to be deported.
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India's foreign secretary Vikram Misri had said that US had informed the Centre about people served with final removal orders. “In recent conversations, when we sought details about potential returnees from the US, we have been told that there are up to 487 presumed Indian citizens with final removal orders with the US authorities,” he said.