There were 104 deportees in the flight that landed at Amritsar on 5th February,2025. Additional 17,000 are being processed, it is reported. The deportees are Indian nationals who had either entered the USA illegally or over-stayed the duration of their visa. The underlying reasons notwithstanding, the fact remains they violated the immigration laws of a foreign country and, therefore, need to face the consequences. That they are fellow Indians doesn’t earn them any sympathy.
The fact that they were involved in illegality was lost in the din following their arrival in India. The need to deport, the choice of aircraft, duration of the flight, lack of facilities and shackling of the deportees gained more prominence in discussions.
How can a stolen country deport illegal migrants.
No one is illegal on a stolen land; he threw a punch at me. I have a well-informed friend in Bikram Sen. An argumentative Indian, he holds that the USA stole land from the native Americans and, therefore, its entire citizenry, including earlier generations, is illegal. Morally, at the least. He continued that the country was founded through larceny, enslavement of native population and genocide. Making a case for the immigrants (illegal and otherwise), he says that the deportations are superfluous as illegal occupiers cannot prevent others from coming in.
Honestly, I have neither knowledge nor inclination to try to understand as to what transpired two hundred years back or earlier. I would rather stick to the present. The reality is the USA is a country, rich and powerful at that, and attracts millions of immigrants who want to actualize their dreams thereat. It has laws that govern the conduct of its citizens as also of those who enter the country. You violate the laws; you face the consequences.
Couldn’t India make arrangements to bring them back.
Yes, the Government of India could fly them in. But why ? The deportees got involved in the acts of illegality of their own free volition. Some say they were misled by unscrupulous agents or human-traffickers. That may well be the case which needs to be dealt with sternly, but separately. Most (if not all) of the deportees are adults and, evidently, it was lure for money that landed them in the predicament they are currently in. Now, when caught, their empathizers want government to fund their return.
Thousands of Indians, in distress or stranded overseas, have been brought back to India in the past. The coronavirus pandemic saw Indians being brought home from across the globe under the Operation Samudra Setu. Indians were evacuated from troubled Afghanistan, war-torn Ukraine and strife-ridden Sudan under various operations undertaken by the Indian government. It was, without doubt, India’s responsibility to bring them back as they were in the foreign lands legally and were not involved in any illegality. No favours sought and no favours done. But the suggestion that tax-payers’ money should be used to fund return of the deportees from the USA (or from any other country) is bizarre and shall, most certainly, encourage similar illegal acts in future. The taxpayers need to protest if the government even toys with the idea.
Choice of the aircraft, inconvenient travel and shackling of the deportees.
The C-17 Globemaster aircraft used for deportation by the USA is used for transporting troops and cargo throughout the world, including India. Though the variant used for bringing the deportees is not known, C-17 commonly has a maximum payload of around 77,000 kilograms (say, equivalent of 1,000 persons), has a maximum uploaded range of around 11,500 kilometres (against a distance of 13,300 kilometres between San Antonio and Amritsar) and has a recorded history of transporting 820 persons in one flight (as against 104 deportees ++ in the instant case). Not an Airbus A380 for sure, C-17 is certainly a plane used for ferrying human beings (as human as the deportees). Therefore, anyone who insinuates unsuitability of the aircraft for bringing in the deportees is better advised to enter the USA, illegally (via the Dunki-route, preferably), to experience the return travel on a C-17 as a deportee.
The empathizers have added bizarre dimensions to the issue of deportation. Some have problems in deportees flying Military instead of Commercial or Charter. Some find the duration of the flight (40 hours including the stopover) irksome. What do they want. Should the next set of deportees be flown direct on Air India or United so that they can arrive comfortably in half the time. Next, taking the empathy to newer heights, non-availability of seats in the direct flights may prompt the demand by the deportees and their empathizers for decent connections on Etihad, Qatar Airways or Singapore Airlines. Left to the Woke, the prides-of-our-nation should have been brought back Business Class on Emirates savouring gourmet meals of champagne, caviar, prawn cocktails, pate’ & crackers, medium-rare steak, pineapple souffle and, not to forget, espresso during the two-leg journey.
The other issue is shackling of deportees. If one goes by the media reports, only the adult males were shackled. It needs to be understood if shackling was a necessity or some kind of messaging. I am reminded of a fellow passenger during a New Delhi-Dubai-Accra flight. Seated on the exit row, he started crying, shouting and throwing his limbs around as the aircraft neared Accra. His aggressive movements carried the risk of unwittingly hitting the lever on door of the emergency exit. The cabin crew tried to calm him down. Seeing no change, they forcibly moved him to the rear-most row and tied him to the seat using extra seatbelts. The man wasn’t drunk but appeared hugely disturbed.
For the deportees, return is traumatic. For some this may mean an end to their American dream as there is a strong likelihood of them being denied a visa in future because of the deportation history. Also, some deportees may have spent huge sums to somehow reach the USA, a financial loss they may not be able to recover from. The possibility of some of them causing ruckus, under trauma, during the flight and jeopardising the lives of others cannot be ruled out. Ergo, one assumes, the shackles.
Too little food, too little water, one toilet and President Trump.
The complaints that there was only one toilet for use by the deportees and that adequate food & water was not provided in the aircraft are serious. This is not only inhuman but also very presumptuous of the American authorities that they can get away making Guantanamo Bays of the deportation flights. One is not surprised if sending back the deportees, sans the basic facilities, was some kind of messaging by President Trump. He is on a high these days wanting to buy Iceland, making Canada the 51st state, renaming the Gulf of Mexico and trying to turn Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East. Though it’s the USA picking up the tab, our resentment needs to be conveyed unequivocally and strongly to ensure that the basic facilities are provided in the next set of deportation flights. It would be C-17, one assumes.