Plane carrying 119 deportees from US to land in Amritsar on Saturday

Amritsar/Chandigarh, Feb 15 (PTI) A plane carrying 119 illegal immigrants from the US will land at the Amritsar airport on Saturday, the second such batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its promised crackdown on illegal migration.

The plane is expected to land at the airport around 10 pm, official sources said. Among the 119 deportees, 100 are from Punjab and Haryana.

While 67 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each is from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The second batch of illegal Indian immigrants to deported from the United States has four women and two minors, including a six-year-old girl, the sources said, adding that most of the deportees are in the age group of 18 to 30.

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

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

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann kept up his attack on the BJP-Centre on Saturday over the landing of US planes with illegal Indian immigrants at the Amritsar airport and asked it not to make the holy city a “deport centre”.

Mann visited the international airport in Amritsar and said his government has made arrangements to take the Punjab residents from among the second batch of deportees to their hometowns.

“Our vehicles are ready to take them to their places,” he said.

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

However, the Haryana government has already made arrangements for taking the deportees hailing from the state to their respective places.

The deportees from the other states will travel to Delhi from Amritsar on a plane on Sunday morning and will then be taken to their respective places, Mann said.

Arrangements for food has been made for all the deportees, he added.

Talking to reporters at the Amritsar airport, the chief minister continued his attack on the Centre and said, “Do not make our holy city a deport centre.” He said Amritsar is known for the Golden Temple, the Durgiana Mandir, the Ram Tirath temple, Jallianwala Bagh and the Gobindgarh Fort.

There are many airbases in the country and planes carrying immigrants can land at any one of those, he said.

“Will they (the authorities concerned) allow the landing (of a plane carrying immigrants) in Vatican City, if they (immigrants) hail from there?” he asked.

Asked whether the second batch of deportees will be in shackles like those in the first batch, Mann said they do not have any information on whether the deportees are handcuffed and chained.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have taken up the issue with US President Donald Trump and told him that India will send its own plane to bring these people back, he said.

Replying to a question on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader R P Singh’s post on X that Amritsar is the closest international airport for planes entering India from the US, Mann wondered that in that case, why the Centre has not started flight services to the US from the city, which has been the demand of the state government.

Mann on Friday questioned the move to allow another plane carrying immigrants to land in Amritsar, as he accused the Centre of trying to defame Punjab as part of a conspiracy.

“The BJP-led Centre always discriminates against Punjab. It does not let go of any chance of defaming the state,” the chief minister said while addressing reporters in Amritsar.

“As part of a conspiracy, it (the Centre) is trying to defame Punjab and Punjabis,” he alleged.

The BJP hit back at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader on Saturday, accusing him of playing politics over the issue.

Commenting on the matter, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh accused Mann of playing politics over deportees.

“Bhagwant Mann sahab, the people of Punjab want to know how these innocent youngsters went out (of the state), why did they have to go, who were those who spoiled their lives. Why did they have to go adopting illegal routes, who sent them, who were the fraudulent agents?

“These people were forced to sell their land, houses. Rather than catching the culprits and acting against those who spoiled the lives of these youngsters, the ‘AAP-da’ party leader is doing politics over the issue,” Chugh said.

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said the AAP government in Punjab has “failed” to curb human trafficking.

He asked Mann how many travel agents were booked for human trafficking in the last three years.

Bajwa said the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, 2012 regulates the profession of travel agents to check and curb illegal activities.

“Can Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the home portfolio, let Punjabis know how many travel agents have been booked under the same law in the last three years?” the Congress leader asked.

A four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), NRI Affairs, Praveen Sinha, has been formed by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav to probe complaints regarding the involvement of fraudulent travel agents in deceptive immigration practices.

The DGP on Saturday reiterated the Punjab Police’s commitment to dismantling these criminal networks and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation.

He requested the public to come forward with any information that could assist in apprehending culprits against whom cases have been registered.

Additionally, the DGP advised citizens to only approach licensed agents for immigration services and verify their credentials thoroughly to avoid falling prey to scams.

After the first batch of illegal immigrants was sent back on February 5, most of the deportees hailing from Punjab said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families. However, their dreams were shattered when they were caught on the US border and sent back in shackles.

Many people from Punjab and other states, who entered the US through the “donkey route” — an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter America by spending lakhs of rupees — are now facing deportation.