NEW DELHI: India has protested the US handling of Indian deportees, who arrived handcuffed and shackled from San Antonio in a military plane on February 5, confirmed the government while officially announcing PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington on February 12-13. Government sources, who confirmed that there are 96 more verified Indian nationals who may be deported to India soon, did not rule out the possibility of PM Narendra Modi himself raising the mistreatment issue with President Donald Trump in what will be their first bilateral meeting since the latter’s inauguration.
“Yes, we have registered our concerns with the US (on mistreatment),’’ said foreign secretary Vikram Misri, responding to a query from TOI about whether India had, like Brazil, officially protested the treatment meted out to its citizens. Significantly, Misri also said at a media briefing that the military deportation to Amritsar, compared to earlier flights in the past, was of “slightly different nature” as the Trump administration has characterised deportation as a national security operation. “That’s perhaps one of the reasons why a military plane was used,’’ he said.
Misri also revealed that, as of now, there are 487 presumed Indian nationals facing the final removal order in the US. Out of these, the Trump administration has shared the details of 295 people whose Indian origin is being verified by Indian authorities. TOI has learnt that the US has initially shared a list of 203 Indians for deportation. The 104 Indian nationals who have returned are part of the same list. Of the remaining 99, India has verified the citizenship of 96 people who are expected to be on the next deportation flight to India. This number could go up depending upon when the next flight is conducted and as India verifies more people for deportation.
Describing the treatment of illegal Indian migrants as avoidable and a valid issue to raise, Misri said India will continue to raise this issue with US authorities. While India has accepted more than 15,000 illegal Indian migrants from the US in the past 16 years, the flight that landed in Amritsar this week with 104 Indian nationals saw possibly the first use of a military aircraft for deporting Indians. Countries like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia have been reluctant to accept such flights, citing human rights violations.
Foreign minister S Jaishankar had said in Parliament Thursday that US deportations are executed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as per a 2012 SOP, which allows use of restraints, and that India is engaging US authorities to ensure deportees are not mistreated. Asked if India at that point of time had registered a protest with American authorities, Misri said there was no record of any such protest.
According to Indian officials, the US conveyed to India that using a military aircraft would be the quickest way of deporting people. While Misri did not confirm if India was contemplating sending, like Colombia, its own plane for deportation, he said India is open to exploring other alternatives. “A request was made that this would be the quickest way to do it, but there are other types of flights that have taken place in the past and we remain open to exploring all of these alternatives for the future as well,’’ said Misri.
He also said that India would not like to be seen as an uncooperative category on the issue of illegal migration but added that “any country in the world, if it is going to accept its nationals back, will want to have the assurance that whosoever is coming back is a bona fide citizen of India”.
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