Amritsar: Indian illegal migrants deported from the US having any criminal records will be arrested, sources told ETV Bharat on Wednesday after a US military aircraft carrying 104 such immigrants landed at Amritsar's Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport at 1.55 pm today.
Sources said that among the deported, 30 people were from Punjab, 33 each from Gujarat and Haryana, three each from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and two from Chandigarh.
"Apart from immigration, the entire background of these people, especially their criminal records, will also be checked. If anyone has a criminal record, then he will be arrested at the airport itself. Among them, there might be some people who may have left for the US after committing a crime in India," sources told ETV Bharat.
While reports say 205 Indians are being deported, no official confirmation about the exact number of deportees has come so far. The US military plane C-17 Globemaster left San Antonio, Texas for Amritsar on Tuesday. The plane was supposed to land at Amritsar airport at 9 am, but eventually landed in Amritsar at 1.55 pm.
Sources said there were 11 crew members and 45 American officials in the plane accompanying the deportees. Family members of the deported Indians had already arrived at the airport. Security was heightened at Amritsar airport, with sources saying that the documents of all the Indian nationals deported from the US will be checked. Those from Gujarat, they said, will be sent via a flight and others from neighbouring districts will be transported by a bus.
Trump's deportation plan
This is the first such deportation to India as part of the big crackdown on illegal immigrants by US President Donald Trump in his second term at the White House. Many of the deportees had entered the US through "donkey routes" or other illegal means by spending lakhs of rupees.
Without directly commenting on the deportation flight carrying the Indians, a spokesperson at the US embassy in New Delhi said on Tuesday that Washington is tightening immigration laws and removing illegal migrants. The US action comes amid India and the US finalising various elements of a likely visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington from February 12 to 13. There is no official word from India yet on the US action.
