The incident of 104 illegal immigrants sent to Amritsar by the US military aircraft on February 5, with their hands and feet shackled, had created a stir in India, but this incident was not going to stop here. So far, the US has sent 377 people to India in three groups.
On February 15, another US military aircraft carrying 116 illegal immigrants landed in Amritsar. The Trump administration of the US sent a third military aircraft to Amritsar last Sunday. A total of 112 Indian immigrants from different states were on board the aircraft. Seven children are also among the deported people. These include 31 people from different districts of Punjab. In two days, two US military aircraft carrying 228 Indians landed in Amritsar. Except for women and children, all the men were handcuffed and their legs were shackled. It is being said that more flights will come to bring back Indian citizens as per several statements by US President Donald Trump. During a joint press conference with Trump at the White House last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that India is fully prepared to take back any certified Indian residing illegally in the US.
Indians in handcuffs and shackles
In view of the strong opposition from the opposition parties and the people of the country, it was hoped that this time these NRIs would not be sent here like prisoners, but contrary to these expectations, these NRIs were brought back in handcuffs and shackles in the plane that reached Amritsar on Saturday and Sunday.
This question arose especially because Colombia did not allow a US military plane carrying illegal immigrants from its country to land. Colombia turned the US military plane back. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Colombia on this. Even after this, Colombia did not budge. Colombian President Gustavo Petro had said that it would ensure that its citizens were not deported from the US in a dishonorable manner. In this regard, the Colombian presidential office in its statement gave special emphasis on the words ‘honorable return’. Petro decided to send his special plane to bring back the immigrants from the US.
However, those who were deported in the first batch and came to India had narrated their ordeal and said that they were brought in shackles and handcuffs in a military plane. They had to struggle even to go to the bathroom for 40 hours. The opposition had criticized the Modi government for this inhumane situation. This issue was also raised in both the houses of Parliament.
Meanwhile, when the news of the second batch landing in Amritsar came, a new controversy arose over it. The question arose as to why the American deportation flights carrying illegal immigrants were being landed only in Punjab when it also includes people from other states of India? Is it a conspiracy to defame Punjab that only Punjabis resort to illegal routes to go to America? After all, why are these flights not landing in states like Gujarat or Haryana? Raising this question, Bhagwant Mann said that the BJP is constantly trying to defame Punjab.
Congress national spokesperson and Punjab Congress co-in-charge Alok Sharma also challenged the claims of BJP leaders that Amritsar is the nearest station for such flights. He said that American planes are flying over the entire country to reach Amritsar. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is sitting silent, while Indians are being deported in handcuffs and shackles. He said that for us, all the deportees are Indians, and many of them are from Gujarat. But why have they chosen Amritsar, especially when it is coming out that the flight path of the planes is from the eastern side and why are they circling the entire country to reach Amritsar? Does BJP leader Modi have an agenda to defame Punjab because he and the BJP leadership are making statements against Punjab? When America is sending people in handcuffs and shackles, our government should have called the American ambassador and registered its protest. The Indian government could have sent its planes to bring back the Indians.
Pargat Singh questioned why BJP leaders are silent on Gujarat when most of the deportees were from there. They are presenting the Gujarat model. Why couldn’t Union Minister Ravneet Bittu say a word about Gujarat?”
Police arrest four people
Out of the 116 Indians deported from the US at the Amritsar International Airport on Saturday night, four wanted people were arrested by the police at the airport itself.
These people had fled the country to avoid punishment. The arrested persons include two cousins from Rajpura in the murder case of an AAP leader, a fugitive criminal from Ludhiana against whom an LoC was issued, and an accused in molesting and threatening to kill a Class 10 student
Over 20,000 ‘illegal immigrants’ deported to the US
An analysis by two researchers at Johns Hopkins University has revealed that the number of Hindi speakers among illegal immigrants here has increased in recent years. It also said that from 2021 to 2022,
About 66 percent of all asylum applications were filed by Punjabis. At one time, Hindi-speaking people accounted for 14 percent of Indian illegal immigrants. However, this doubled to 30 percent between 2017 and 2022. The study was released on February 10. According to the Pew Research report, there are about 675,000 illegal Indian immigrants in the US. The total number of Indians in the US is 5.1 million. This shows the increasing diversity among Indian immigrants, as more people from Hindi-speaking areas are now seeking asylum in the US. Other language groups are not far behind.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the number of Indians seeking asylum in the US has increased by 470 percent in the last five years. While Indian asylum claims were 6,000 in 2020, they increased to more than 51,000 in 2023. This is an eight-fold increase in the number of immigrants. US immigration judges approved 63 percent of cases involving Punjabi speakers and 58 percent of cases involving Hindi speakers, but only 25 percent of cases filed by Gujarati speakers were approved.
According to reliable immigration sources, there are 7.25 lakh illegal Indians living in the US, of whom about 20,000 are under deportation orders. According to sources, ICE has installed tracker navigation devices on the feet of 17,940 people. They can call them and put them on the plane whenever they want. The Trump administration has amended the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Act of 1996 by giving it the name ‘Accidental Removal’, with which the people whose refugee cases are going on will now be called by the ‘ICE’ officer and will hear their case and that officer will have the power to pass or fail the case, which will no longer need to go to the judge. According to reliable sources, in the coming days, the process of sending illegal Indians, who are more than 20 thousand, to India will be accelerated, those who have been in America for less than 2 years and have filed cases and have work permits will also all come back to India.
Returnees will become a problem, what should the government do?
Unbiased sources are of the opinion that the central government of the country, opposition parties and state governments of various states should seriously consider all this development, due to which unemployed youth migrate illegally by taking huge loans and putting their lives in danger. The biggest reason for this is that there is a large-scale unemployment among the youth in India. From the central government to most state governments, this issue has not been taken seriously. If a deeper analysis is done, only less educated youth get caught in the circle of agents who adopt illegal routes and try to go abroad illegally. Therefore, it is very important that the central government and state governments make large-scale arrangements to provide cheap and quality education to their young generation in the country and implement such economic policies in the country, which can provide suitable employment opportunities to the youth in non-government sectors like agriculture, trade, industries etc. as well as in government departments. The increasing unemployment among the youth can also become a big challenge for law and order. This is almost happening in Punjab.
Regarding the Indians deported from America, Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said that this problem is likely to become even more serious in the coming time, because the way the unemployment situation is in foreign countries like America and Canada, many of them are ready to come to India of their own free will. He said that some youth will do agriculture on their own land, but a large number of youth have gone on loans. If these youth return, then the situation is likely to become serious. He said that the central government and the Punjab government should make arrangements for rehabilitation for these youth. Meanwhile, he said that Amritsar should not be made a deportation airport. If Amritsar is really close, then as per the demand of the Chief Minister, direct international flights to America and Canada should be allowed from here.
