Third US Aircraft Carrying 157 Indian Deportees Likely To Land At Amritsar Airport Today: Report

New Delhi: A third US aircraft carrying 157 Indian deportees is expected to land at Amritsar airport in Punjab on Sunday (February 16), PTI reported citing sources.

This flight follows a previous one earlier in the day when a C-17 aircraft landed at the airport at around 11:35 pm bringing 116 deported Indian nationals. Of the deportees, 67 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana , eight from Gujarat , three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa , Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann reached the airport before the flight landed and inspected the arrangements made for the deportees. He said that the state government has made all the arrangements to take the deportees to their hometowns. "Our vehicles are ready to take them to their places," Mann was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

However, earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann raised the issue of flights carrying the Indian deportees being landed at Amritsar airport. alleging that the Centre is trying to "defame" Punjab.

Speaking to the media, Mann said, "A second plane carrying Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the US will land in Amritsar tomorrow. The Ministry of External Affairs should tell the criteria based on which Amritsar was selected to land the aircraft. You select Amritsar to defame Punjab. So, at the time when PM Modi and US President Donald Trump were meeting, they (US authorities) must have been putting shackles on our people. Is this the gift Trump has given?"

The first batch of deportees, which arrived on February 5, consisted mainly of individuals from Punjab. They stated that they had hoped to migrate to the US for a better life but were deceived by agents.

The deportees include individuals from various states: 33 from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. Among them, 19 women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven, were also deported.

The US Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft touched down at Amritsar airport at 1:55 pm. This deportation occurred just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s scheduled visit to Washington for talks with President Donald Trump.

These deportations are part of the Trump administration's ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration. Since President Trump took office, US law enforcement has stepped up efforts to deport illegal immigrants. Many of those being sent back are Indians who entered the US through illegal means, often spending large sums of money in the process.

(Inputs from Agencies)