Hours after visuals emerged of undocumented Indian immigrants—handcuffed and shackled—boarding a US military aircraft, global outrage followed. The Indian government’s muted response has further angered many, with critics alleging that both India and the deportees have been humiliated and stripped of dignity. Amid claims that the deportees were denied food and water, questions are also being raised about why the Indian government did not arrange a chartered flight to avoid the use of an Air Force plane.
India’s opposition leaders have condemned the treatment of Indian deportees as “inhuman,” staging protests in Parliament and symbolically handcuffing themselves. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told the press that discussions with the US regarding the alleged mistreatment were ongoing and that action would be taken against those facilitating undocumented immigration. Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar downplayed the incident, stating that such deportations were routine, with over 15,000 Indians sent back from the US since 2009.
Indians, meanwhile, are questioning why their government has remained silent on the deportees, unlike leaders from Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Honduras, who have spoken out for their own citizens.
What happened
On February 6, US Border Patrol (USBP) Chief Michael W Banks posted a short video to his social media, captioned: “USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport. This mission underscores our commitment to enforcing immigration laws and ensuring swift removals. If you cross illegally, you will be removed.”
The video showed deportees—shackled at the legs and handcuffed—being escorted onto the aircraft under the watch of heavily armed USBP and other uniformed personnel, all set to a generic background score similar to those used for cinematic heroes.
Among the 104 deportees, 19 were women and 13 children. There are conflicting reports on whether the children were handcuffed too. After reaching Amritsar, deportees told The Wire about their “40-hour ordeal.” They were reportedly shackled to each other for the entire duration of the flight and denied food, water, and restroom facilities.
One deportee told The Wire that they had pleaded with US military personnel on the aircraft to unshackle them so that they could drink water and use the bathroom, but were ignored. A woman who was deported reportedly sustained minor injuries and swelling in her feet from being shackled for 40 hours.
Most of the deportees are originally from Haryana, Gujarat, and Punjab. Before being sent back, they were housed at a migrant camp at the US-Mexico border. While there, they were reportedly not allowed to sleep and were given only chips and apples to eat. Another deportee’s wife told The Wire that her family had spent Rs 42 lakh and sold agricultural land to gain illegal entry into the US. Families of the deportees also questioned the silence from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union government, and the Aam Aadmi Party-led (AAP) state government in Punjab, alleging that it was due to high unemployment that they were forced to take such measures.
Minister Jaishanker, in a response in the Rajya Sabha, denied the deportees’ allegations, insisting that food, water, and bathroom access had been provided.
Undocumented immigration, mass deportations common
“The process of deportation is not a new one, I repeat, not a new one and has been ongoing for several years,” the minister said. He also shared the details of deportations of undocumented Indians from the US since 2009.
According to this data, the highest number of Indian deportees was 799 in 2010, until the number spiked to 1,303 in 2016—the year US President Donald Trump was first elected. In 2017, when Trump took office, the number of deportations stood at 1,024. This number increased again to 2,042 in 2019. The numbers remained high until 2021, when Joe Biden became President, after which they ranged between 600 and 800 annually. However, in 2024—another US election year—deportations sharply rose to 1,386, compared to 617 in the previous year.
Undocumented immigration from India is not uncommon, though less well-known compared to similar movements from Latin American countries to the US. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center report, Indians form the third-largest group of undocumented immigrants in the US. The report estimates that 7,25,000 of undocumented immigrants were Indian, compared to 69 lakh Mexicans and 7, 50,000 El Salvadoran.
In 2023, Newslaundry investigated one such dangerous and expensive route from Gujarat to the US. Agents charged between Rs 40 lakhs to Rs 1.3 crore to facilitate illegal entry into the US. Many have died trying, the report says.
Further, Newslaundry found that some Gujarati Non-Resident Indians (NRI), who entered the US legally, acted as financiers for undocumented immigrants from India, whom they then hired for less than the minimum wage. These immigrants were forced to spend three to four years trying to pay off their dues. Until the dues were settled, they were not allowed to work anywhere else either, the report also says.
Involvement of the US military
While deportations have been happening in each of these years, as Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha, a report in the New York Times points to something more sinister. According to American defense officials interviewed by the NYT, using military aircraft for deportation is rare. Amid the slew of executive orders Trump signed after taking office on January 20, alongside the move to end Birthright Citizenship, was instructions for the US Secretary of Defense to oversee revised operational plans for the military’s role in enforcing border control.
According to the order, the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) was tasked with sealing the US border and stopping “unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.” The move is in line with Trump’s campaign rhetoric. In May 2024, Trump had said that he would have no concerns about using both the US National Guard and the military to carry out deportations. When questioned on the use of military force against civilians, Trump replied, “These aren’t civilians. These are people that aren’t legally in our country. This is an invasion of our country.”
Responding to Trump’s January 20 executive order, US Acting Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said that military airlift would be provided to support Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deportation procedures for more than 5,000 “illegal aliens” held in California and Texas. DHS was tasked with inflight law enforcement, and the US Department of State had to obtain the necessary diplomatic clearances.
Latin American countries react to mass deportations
India is not the only country to have received their deported citizens on military aircrafts, although, as the USBP chief noted, this was the farthest such flight.
Undocumented immigrants from Columbia, Mexico, Brazil, and Honduras have also been deported in large numbers to their respective countries. However, the leaders of these countries attempted to fight the Trump administration before being forced to back down.
Columbian President Gustavo Petro turned back two flights in January carrying undocumented migrants from Colombia. “The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” he said at the time, adding, “I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory. The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”
Petro was eventually forced to take back the deportees after an escalating row over retaliatory trade tariffs imposed by Trump. However, Petro had also said that the Columbian government was in talks with the US to establish protocols for the dignified return of deportees. He added that in 2023, Colombia had suspended deportation flights from the US with the demand that returnees be sent back on commercial flights and without handcuffs.
Similarly, Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was angered at the treatment of Brazilian deportees on a non-military flight on January 28. Deportees were stranded at an airport near the Amazon rainforest after the flight encountered multiple technical difficulties and was forced to land ahead of its destination, the NYT reported. Deportees were reportedly not allowed to deboard despite the air conditioning breaking down and were forced to remain seated and shackled until da Silva intervened and sent the Brazilian Air Force to rescue the deportees.
Also in January, Mexico refused landing permission in Guatemala to two US military C-17 aircrafts, each carrying 80 deportees. No apparent reason has been provided so far. Earlier this week, Trump paused his imposition of a 25% trade tariff on both Canada and Mexico after the leaders of both countries agreed to his demands to tighten their borders with the US in an attempt to reduce undocumented immigration.
Reactions in India
On February 7, Opposition MPs objected to the treatment of the 104 deportees, calling it “inhuman.” The Opposition also asked why the Union government did not arrange a chartered flight to the US to bring the deportees back with dignity.
Taking to the social media platform X, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, shared a video testimony of one of the deportees describing his ordeal, with the caption: “Prime Minister, listen to this man’s pain. Indians deserve dignity and humanity, NOT handcuffs”
All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We, the INDIA [bloc] parties, shall not tolerate the humiliation of Indian nationals.
The Modi government must come out with a detailed statement on the deportation and on why we did not send our own planes to bring back the Indians with dignity and respect instead of a military plane landing on our soil.”
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, who was also a part of the protests in Parliament, said, “Why did the US bind Indians in chains like slaves and send them to India in inhuman conditions? Why have those who claim to be vishwa guru [PM Modi] become silent?
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor added that it is the manner in which the deportees were sent back that is objectionable. “Putting them crowded into a military aircraft with handcuffs is unnecessarily insulting and humiliating. It’s an insult to the human rights of these people. I don’t think it’s necessary. If the Americans want them out of their country, fine. We are prepared to take them back. Why should they be handcuffed? Why should they be treated in this humiliating manner?” he asked.
Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told media persons: “Trump and Modi say they are great friends. So why did Modi allow this to happen? Isn’t it possible to send a flight to bring the deportees back? The Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister must provide answers.”