A plane carrying a second batch of 116 illegal Indian immigrants from the United States landed at the Amritsar International Airport late on Saturday night, news agency PTI reported, citing official sources. This comes as a part of a promise of Donald Trump’s administration of a crackdown on illegal immigrants. The flight landed at the airport around 11:30 pm, which was against the expected time of 10 pm, the sources said.
#WATCH | Punjab: The aircraft carrying the second batch of illegal Indian immigrants from the US, lands at the Amritsar airport. pic.twitter.com/5SNlv6YAqk
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2025
There were, however, no immediate reports clarifying whether the deportees were in shackles or not. After the first batch of illegal immigrants was sent back on February 5, most of the deportees hailing from Punjab had said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families. However, their dreams were shattered when they were caught on the US border and sent back in shackles.
It is pertinent to mention that earlier, there were reports that the plane would carry 119 immigrants, but now, as per an updated list of passengers, the number of deportees in the second batch was 116.
Among the deportees, 65 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, two each from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Most of the deportees are in the age group of 18 to 30, sources told PTI.
The families of some of the deportees reached the airport to receive them. A third plane carrying 157 deportees is also expected to land on February 16, the sources stated. On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Amritsar airport. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, and 30 from Punjab.
Speaking earlier in the day, the family members of a second batch of illegal Indian immigrants deported from the US were in a state of shock, with many of them saying that they raised money by pledging farmland and cattle to send them abroad for a bright future. The family of Daljit Singh, a resident of Kurala Kalan village in the Tanda area of Hoshiarpur district, said a travel agent had duped them.
Kamalpreet Kaur, the wife of Daljit, alleged that her husband was deceived by the travel agent who promised him a direct flight to the US but instead took him via the “donkey route”—an” illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter the US.
Many people from Punjab and other states who tried to enter the US through the “donkey route”—an” illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter America by spending lakhs of rupees—are now facing deportation.
Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government over the landing of US planes carrying illegal Indian immigrants at Amritsar airport and asked it not to make the holy city a “deport centre”.
Mann visited the international airport in Amritsar and said his government has made arrangements to take the Punjab residents from among the second batch of deportees to their hometowns. “Our vehicles are ready to take them to their places,” he said earlier in the day. CM Mann said his administration has also offered to take the deportees from Haryana to their destinations.
However, the Haryana government has already made arrangements for taking the deportees hailing from the state to their respective places. The deportees from the other states will travel to Delhi from Amritsar on a plane on Sunday morning and will then be taken to their respective places, Mann said. Arrangements for food have been made for all the deportees, he added.
Earlier during the day, while talking to reporters at the Amritsar airport, the CM continued his attack on the Modi government and said, “Do not make our holy city a deport center.” He said Amritsar is known for the Golden Temple, the Durgiana Mandir, the Ram Tirath temple, Jallianwala Bagh, and the Gobindgarh Fort.
There are many airbases in the country, and planes carrying immigrants can land at any one of those, he said. “Will they (the authorities concerned) allow the landing (of a plane carrying immigrants) in Vatican City if they (immigrants) hail from there?” he asked.
A four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), NRI Affairs, Praveen Sinha, has recently been formed by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav to probe complaints regarding the involvement of fraudulent travel agents in deceptive immigration practices. The DGP on Saturday reiterated Punjab Police’s commitment to dismantling these criminal networks and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation.
He requested the public to come forward with any information that could assist in apprehending culprits against whom cases have been registered. Additionally, the DGP advised citizens to only approach licensed agents for immigration services and verify their credentials thoroughly to avoid falling prey to scams.
(With agencies’ inputs)
