New Delhi, Feb 6 (EFE).- India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar Thursday called on the United States to guarantee the humane treatment of undocumented Indian migrants deported from its territory after a US military aircraft returned 104 Indian nationals.
However, he noted that the process for deporting undocumented migrants from the US had remained unchanged under President Donald Trump.
“We are engaging the US government to ensure that the deportees not be mistreated in any manner.,” Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house of parliament, a day after a US military plane carrying 104 deported Indian nationals landed in the northern city of Amritsar.
Jaishankar also called for a shift in focus toward tackling the “migrant industry” and the illegal trafficking of people.
“Our focus should be on the strong crackdown against the illegal immigration industry. On the basis of information provided by the deportees, law enforcement agencies will take necessary, preventive, and exemplary action against the agents and such agencies,” he said.
On the issue of using a military aircraft to carry the illegal immigrants, the minister said the process of deportation from the US was “not a new one and has been ongoing for several years.”
The 2012 ICE standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft allows the use of restraints, he said, citing an old document outlining this procedure.
He said that the ICE had informed the Indian government that women and children were not restrained, and deportees’ needs, including food, medical emergencies, and toilet breaks, were accommodated.
“This is applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as the military aircraft. There has been no change from past procedure, I repeat, no change, from past procedure for the flight undertaken by the US on 5 February 2025.”
His remarks came in response to opposition lawmakers from the Indian National Congress, who pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, considered close to the Trump administration, to clarify its position on US-ordered deportation flights.
Criticism from India’s opposition has centered on the conditions in which deportees are returned, allegedly handcuffed and flown on military aircraft, rather than on the act of deportation itself, which is widely accepted in the country.
While Trump’s immigration policies have drawn sharp criticism from Latin American governments, including those of Colombia and Mexico, Modi’s administration has been more receptive, expressing “openness” to the return of undocumented Indian nationals.
US authorities estimate that at least 18,000 undocumented Indians are currently in the country.
However, a Pew Research Center study for the period 2019-2022 found that Indians were the third-largest group of unauthorized immigrants in the US, with more than 700,000 people, behind only Mexico and El Salvador. EFE
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