Ahead Of Modi-Trump Meeting, Opposition Parties Protest Hand-Cuffing Of The U.S. Deportees

Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump next week, both the Houses of Parliament erupted in protest over the manner in which 104 illegal Indian immigrants from the U.S. landed in Amritsar in a U.S. military aircraft– shackled and restrained. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar sought to downplay the issue and said that such expulsions were routine. “It has been there for years. Hundreds of Indians have been deported annually, with figures ranging from 530 in 2012 to over 2,042 in 2019,” Jaishankar informed the Rajya Sabha.  He pointed out that handcuffs were used on deportees since 2012. Asserting that it was “the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad”, he said efforts were being made to talk to deportees to track agents who sent them. The Opposition felt the government must stand up to the Trump Administration just as Columbia had done. “Why can we not fly back our citizens just as Columbia had done?” asked CPI(M) MP John Brittas. Colombia balked at the U.S. military flights and sent its own Air Force jet to pick up 110 deported Colombians. U.S. deportation flights are not new but the use of military flights is new, with the agency previously using commercial and chartered flights to deport people. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said while the U.S. may have a legal right to deport people who are illegally in their country, “but the manner in which it was done, in handcuffs, squeezed into a military aircraft, in such an abrupt manner, is not acceptable.” He pointed out how under the Biden administration last year, 1100 Indians were deported but there was no such humiliation.