Deported Indians from US land in Amritsar; Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab dominate the list

A US military plane deporting illegal Indian immigrants lands in Amritsar. Reuters

Indians nationals living illegally in the US landed in Amritsar on February 5 after Donald Trump’s administration deported them from San Antonio in Texas on February 4.

The deported individuals travelled on a C-17 aircraft with 11 crew members and 45 officials of the US government.

The military aircraft, which landed at Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport in Amritsar and initially scheduled for a morning landing, has a batch of 205 Indian nationals belonging mostly to Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.

There is a total of 33 individuals each from Gujarat and Haryana in the first set deportees, constituting almost 32 percent each of the first batch of illegal immigrants staying in America, according to the available information of 104 men and women.

Punjab follows closely with 30 Indian citizens being deported. Rest of the individuals belong mostly to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh. Out of the total deported, 79 are men while the rest 25 are women. The youngest among the deported is aged 4 and the oldest is a 46-year-old man from Haryana, according to the available information.

Some of the districts and cities these people belong to are Muzaffarnagar, Thakarwal, Hoshiarpur, Mehsana, Dhunderheri, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Bapupura, Gandhinagar, Luna, VADODARA, Amritasar Cantt, Nagpur, Sonipat, Patan, Karnal and several others.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said in a statement that state government is ready to receive all the deportees, with counters set up at the airport for processing.

However, Punjab NRI minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal expressed his disappointment over the deportation and criticised the Trump administration. He said these individuals had contributed to the US economy and should have been granted permanent residency instead of being deported.

The move follows a crackdown on illegal immigrants by US authorities after Donald Trump took charge as US President in January. Several Indian nationals belonging to Punjab, who spent large sums to enter the US via illegal channels, are now facing deportation.

With agency inputs