Is This The First US Deport Illegal Indian Immigrants ? (X image @AakarshGuleria)
A US military aircraft carrying Indian nationals who were deported from the country for illegal entry arrived in the state of Punjab on Wednesday morning. The C-17 aircraft carrying at least 104 Indians departed from Texas in the late hours of Tuesday. US President Donald Trump has made the deportation of illegal immigrants his key policy.
Reportedly, the US has identified over 18,000 Indian nationals who have entered the US illegally. Trump said Indian PM Narendra Modi has assured him that the country would “do what’s right” in accepting US deportations.
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The use of military planes during the deportation process has gained attention. While the US usually carries out deportations on commercial charters that look like regular commercial planes and are operated by US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), the Trump administration has been using military planes for deporting now.
Earlier, Columbia refused to let the military flight land in the country. President Gustavo Petro said he would only accept civilian planes.
Use of military planes is considered expensive. The Reuters news agency calculated the comparative cost of the two planes. According to the news agency, a recent military deportation flight to Guatemala likely cost “at least $4,675 per migrant… That is more than five times the $853 cost of a one-way first class ticket on American Airlines” on the same route.
Donald Trump has frequently termed illegal immigrants “aliens” and “criminals” who have “invaded” America. The visuals of immigrants being loaded onto military planes seem to be part of the message that Trump is tough on such “crimes.” They were handcuffed while being taken to the aircraft.
Speaking to the Republican lawmakers, Trump recently said, “For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came…We’re respected again, after years of laughing at us like we’re stupid people.”
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Responding to the deportation of Indians, former diplomat and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor observed that it is not the first time the US has deported illegal Indian immigrants. Taking to his X, he said 1,100 Indians were deported in the previous fiscal year, which ended in September 2024.
A short thread on #indiansdeported from the US:
The media kerfuffle over the deportation of 150+ illegal Indian migrants from the United States yesterday obscures a few facts:
1. This is not the first such planeload, nor is it directly related to the ascent of @realDonaldTrump.…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 4, 2025
According to the Pew Research Centre, as of 2022, 725,000 illegal Indian immigrants were in the US, making the country the third in line, after Mexico and El Salvador. A total of 5,477 Indians have been deported from the US by ICE between 2018 and 2023, as per official figures. More than 2,300 Indians were deported in 2020, marking the highest figure in recent years.
