A US Air Force plane carrying Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the USA landed in Punjab's Amritsar on Wednesday; those Indian citizens who hail from Gujarat arrived at Ahmedabad airport from Punjab's Amritsar, hiding their faces.
Sources told PTI that 33 are each from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 are from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two are from Chandigarh.
Nineteen women and 13 minors, including a 4-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven years, were among the deportees, they said.
The C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US Air Force landed at the Amritsar airport at 1:55 pm. The US action came just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington to hold wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump.
The deportees were questioned inside the airport terminal building by different government agencies, including the Punjab Police, and various state and central intelligence agencies to check if they have any criminal record.
Around 6:45 pm, the deportees from Punjab were transported to their hometowns in police vehicles after completing all necessary formalities. Similarly, illegal immigrants from Haryana were taken to their native places by the state police, according to sources speaking to PTI.
The sources told PTI that the respective state governments had made arrangements to return the deportees to their native areas. None of the deportees interacted with the media.
Hours after the US military aircraft landed at the airport, Punjab NRI Affairs minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention, urging him to speak to his "friend" US President Donald Trump regarding the deportation of Indians.
We all know that PM Modi used to say that 'Trump is my friend'.
Dhaliwal also spoke to some of the deportees hailing from Punjab at the airport.
As per Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, 104 Indians who were allegedly illegally living in the US were brought to Punjab's Amritsar yesterday on a US Air Force plane, PTI reported.
