CNN
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At least 104 Indians have been deported from the US on military aircraft as President Donald Trump has made immigration a top priority, according to officials in India.
The C-17 aircraft carrying immigrants primarily from India’s states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab, had their local area landed in a city in northwest Amritsar on Wednesday afternoon, Punjab officials said Ta.
It was the longest flight since the Trump administration began deploying military aircraft for migrant transport, according to US officials.
Several friends and family members of the returnees told CNN about the difficulties they faced in reaching the United States, in order to be sent back immediately upon arrival.
Manliasatsing, whose 23-year-old cousin Akashdeepsin was among those on deportation flight, told CNN that it “sounded low.”
Akashdeep left for the US seven months ago and spent nearly $60,000 on the trip. His father won by selling two-thirds of the land, his cousin told CNN.
Shortly after Akashdeep arrived in the US in January, he was detained and deported, his cousin said. “His parents are happy that he hasn’t been in prison for 10 years and is back. At least he’s alive,” Manliasat added.
Akashdeep’s story is not unique. In just four years, the number of Indian citizens who have entered the US illegally has skyrocketed dramatically. 2018-19 has now moved from 8,027 to 96,917 in 2022-23, government data shows.
Young Indians looking for job opportunities make up a significant portion of the US undocumented immigrants, some of which have taken dangerous trekking in Latin America to reach the US southern border .
Kurjinder Kaur, whose husband, Harwinder Singh, was deported by military flight, told CNN that the 40-year-old farmer decided to go to the US in April last year to seek better opportunities. The travel agent has charged him more than Rs 4 million (about $45,000) and said he will arrive in the US in 15 days.
“When he settled there, he was going to take us with him, but he never thought of the fear he had experienced,” Kaur said. After he left Punjab, Singh shuffled trucks, boats, vans and all other forms of transport for ten months. He crossed the border from Mexico around January 15th.
“When he crossed, he went to buy some water, was soon greeted by the army and thrown into detention camps, they went through legal proceedings, and two days ago he was told that Trump had made him home. He was told he was sending to. He was handcuffed, taken to the airport, and placed in military flights. He had no access to water for hours and could not even use Lou.” Kaur said.
Former Punjab village leader Rakhbil Singh knows one of the deported Indian citizens.
He said the repatriated man’s “family is in distraught.” The family sold their property and “the boy has returned to send his son abroad,” Rakhville said.
He said unemployment is driving young people in his area to leave. “Young people want to live a good life,” he said. “The government should do something about it instead of flashing names and villages on television. They should address the issue at the core of it.”
The Indian government has announced its intention to receive deported citizens, but local leaders are calling for greater steps to address the root of the issue.
“This is my request to the federal government,” Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Minister of Non-resident Indian Affairs in Punjab, told local media on Wednesday after meeting deported individuals.
“I especially demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sit down with President Donald Trump and find a solution that will resolve what is happening and what is happening.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report
