A U.S. army aircraft with at the least 100 aboard landed in India on Wednesday, officers mentioned, the longest such deportation flight since President Trump took workplace and an indication that international locations whose leaders he favors is not going to be spared his immigration crackdown.
It seemed to be the primary use of an American army plane to deport folks to India, which is one of the top sources of unauthorized immigration to america. Greater than 1,000 Indians had been despatched again to the nation final 12 months on industrial flights.
Officers within the authorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who enjoys a detailed relationship with President Trump, have expressed confidence that India is best positioned than most international locations to cope with the Trump administration, they usually have publicly expressed a willingness to just accept deportees.
However Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, a minister within the state authorities of Punjab, the place the aircraft landed on Wednesday, criticized Mr. Trump’s powerful stance on unlawful immigration and recommended that Mr. Modi’s authorities ought to do extra to withstand him.
“The Indian federal authorities should take this very significantly — in spite of everything, there are folks from many Indian states who’ve been deported,” he mentioned in an interview on Tuesday. “And what’s their crime? They might have gone illegally, nevertheless it was for his or her livelihoods. I’m enormously disheartened. President Trump should give these folks one other likelihood and, on humanitarian grounds, do a rethink of his choice.”
Mr. Dhaliwal mentioned that he could be on the airport to obtain the deportees and be sure that they weren’t handled as criminals.
The Pew Analysis Middle estimated in 2022 that greater than 700,000 undocumented Indian immigrants had been residing in america, greater than from any nation however Mexico and El Salvador. Current experiences in Indian information media mentioned that slightly below 20,000 migrants had been scheduled for imminent deportation.
Indians are among the many migrants from around the globe who’ve illegally entered america by way of Mexico in rising numbers lately. Final 12 months, greater than 25,000 Indians had been arrested whereas attempting to cross the southern border illegally, in response to U.S. authorities information. Indian migrants additionally contributed to rising numbers of arrests on the northern border with Canada final 12 months.
Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting from Washington.
