Trump govt drops 104 'handcuffed' Indians

Amritsar: A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from various states landed here on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Trump government as part of a crackdown it resolved to carry out when it was sworn in last month. Of the deportees, 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh, sources said.

The deportees included 19 women and 13 minors, they said. These were the first such batch of Indians deported by the US government.

Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Wednesday expressed sadness to see pictures of Indians getting "handcuffed and humiliated" while being deported from the US. The US action comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington to hold wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump.

The C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US Air Force landed at the Amritsar airport at 1:55 pm. There was heavy barricading outside the airport and police personnel were deployed in large numbers. All the deportees were being questioned inside the airport terminal building by different government agencies, including the Punjab Police, and various state and central intelligence agencies to check if they have any criminal record.

The deportees are expected to be allowed to go to their homes following verification and background checks even though there has been no official word about it yet. According to them, arrangements have been made by the state governments concerned to take the deportees to their hometowns. An Amritsar-based elderly man, who came for his grandson, refused to talk to the media outside the airport.

Talking to PTI videos in the Mohali district, family members of Pradeep, who is among the deportees who landed at the Amritsar airport, demanded that the Bhagwant Mann government repay the debts they incurred to send the youth to the US.