US plane carrying second batch of 116 deportees lands in Amritsar

AMRITSTAR: A US military aircraft carrying 116 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Amritsar International Airport late Saturday night, official sources said.

The C-17 aircraft landed at the airport around 11.35 pm as against the expected time of 10 pm, they said.

This is the second such batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants after February 5. It was not immediately known whether the deportees were in shackles, as was the previous batch.

After immigration and background check, the deportees hailing from Punjab were taken to their homes in police vehicles at around 4.30 am on Sunday. The Haryana government also made transportation arrangements for the deportees from the state.

Many from the first batch of illegal immigrants who landed here on February 5, most of them from Punjab, said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families, but were duped by their agents. Their dreams were shattered when they were caught on the US border and sent back in shackles.

Among the fresh batch of deportees, 65 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, two each from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Most of them are aged 18 to 30, as per the sources.

A third plane carrying 157 deportees is expected to land on Sunday, sources said.

On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Amritsar airport. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, and 30 from Punjab.

Meanwhile, the family members of the second batch of deportees looked in a state of shock, with many saying they raised money by pledging farm land and cattle to send them abroad for a bright future.

A relative of Gurjinder Singh (27), a deportee, told reporters the family sold an acre of land and spent nearly Rs 50-55 lakh to send him abroad.

"The travel agent promised to send him legally, but he later took him through a donkey route," Gurjinder's relative said.

Kamalpreet Kaur, wife of Daljit Singh from Hoshiarpur district, said her husband was deceived by a travel agent who promised him a direct flight to the US but instead took him via donkey route -- an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter the US.

Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Power Minister Harbhajan Singh met some of the deportees at the airport.

Dhaliwal told them that the state government stood by them like a rock and asked them not to lose heart.

One of the deportees told Dhaliwal that he along with his cousin spent Rs 40 lakh each for reaching the US. Both belong to a village near Kalanaur in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.

Dhaliwal said the government will send the travel agents who duped the youths behind bars and urged the deportees to come forward and lodge their complaints.

Taking a dig at neighbouring Haryana, Dhaliwal said that like last time, it again sent two buses used to transport prisoners to take back deportees from the state.

"I request Anil Vij, who is the transport minister, that they should not send buses used for prisoners. Also, no minister from the Haryana government was present at the airport to receive the deportees," Dhaliwal said.

On Saturday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had again attacked the Centre over the landing of US planes carrying deportees at Amritsar airport.

"Do not make our holy city a deport centre," he said.

Mann also visited the airport and said his government has made arrangements to take the Punjab residents to their hometowns.

The chief minister said his administration has also offered to take the deportees from Haryana to their respective destinations.

The deportees from the other states will travel to Delhi from Amritsar on a plane Sunday morning and will then be taken to their homes, Mann said, adding, arrangements for food have been made for all of them.