Jaishankar Addresses Indian Deportations from US, Responds to ‘Chained’ Allegations

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that the process of deporting illegal Indian immigrants to the US is not a new thing, but it has been going on for many years. The Foreign Minister said, "It is the responsibility of all countries to take back their citizens if they are found living illegally abroad." He said, "We are in talks with the US government to ensure that there is no mistreatment of those who are returned."

Speaking on the controversy over Indians being hand-chained, he said, 'According to a rule in force since 2012, when people are sent back by plane, they are kept restrained for safety, but ICE has told us that women and children are exempt from this process, that is, they are not tied.' However, S Jaishankar further said, 'We are in talks with the US government to ensure that there is no mistreatment of the returning deportees.'

Let us tell you that a US military plane carrying the first batch of 104 illegal Indian immigrants reached Amritsar in Punjab on Wednesday. Of these, the maximum 33-33 people are from Haryana and Gujarat. A total of 30 deported people were residents of Punjab. The US Army's C-17 aircraft landed at Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport amid tight security. These include three people each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and two from Chandigarh. The deported people include 25 women and 12 minors, of which the youngest passenger is just four years old. 48 people are under 25 years of age. The plane, which took off from Texas on Tuesday, also carried 11 crew members and 45 US officials monitoring the deportation process. According to data from the Pew Research Center, about 7,25,000 illegal immigrants from India live in the US. After Mexico and El Salvador, Indians have the third largest population of unauthorized immigrants.