February 6, 2025: A group of 104 Indian nationals deported from the United States has claimed they were transported on a US military aircraft with their hands and legs shackled throughout the journey. The flight, which included 19 women and 13 minors, landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday amid the US administration’s intensified crackdown on illegal immigration.
Jaspal Singh, a 36-year-old from Punjab’s Gurdaspur, stated that they were only unshackled upon landing. “We thought we were being taken to another camp. Then a police officer told us we were being taken to India. Our hands and legs were chained throughout the flight,” Singh told news agency PTI. He had been in US custody for 11 days before his deportation.
However, earlier on Wednesday, the Indian government fact-checked a widely circulated social media image purportedly showing deported Indian migrants in chains, clarifying that the photo actually depicted Guatemalan nationals.
Singh was among several Indians caught by US Border Patrol along the Mexico-US border on January 24. He alleged that he was deceived by a travel agent who had promised legal entry into the US. “I asked for a proper visa, but the agent tricked me,” he said, revealing that the deal cost him ₹30 lakh, a sum borrowed from various sources.
Another deportee, Harwinder Singh, narrated a perilous journey through Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua before reaching Mexico. He described how their boat nearly capsized at sea and recounted witnessing one person perish in the Panama jungle and another drown in the ocean.
The deported group comprised individuals from multiple Indian states—33 from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. The youngest deportees included a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven.
This mass deportation comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump. Reports suggest that US officials have prepared a list of 18,000 undocumented Indian migrants slated for deportation in the coming months.