A US military flight carrying the third batch of 157 Indian deportees is expected to land at Amritsar airport in Punjab on Sunday, as part of the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration under the Donald Trump administration.
Most of the deportees hail from Haryana, according to sources cited by PTI. This comes after 119 Indians were deported from the US on a military aircraft that landed on Saturday night. Out of the 119 deportees, 67 were from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, and others were eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
In a significant development, two cousins Sandeep and Pradeep were arrested by Punjab Police at the airport. They were accused of a murder case in Patiala, Punjab, and had been proclaimed offenders, as per the police.
The initial 104 Indian deportees landed on February 5, the start of these repatriations. Ever since, Indian deportee flights have been landing at Amritsar, and the next batch will take the same route.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was concerned about the deportation being sent to Amritsar as the destination. He spoke against the move, stating, “Do not make our holy city (Amritsar) a deportation center… Amritsar is famous for the Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir, Ram Tirath temple, Jallianwala Bagh, and Gobindgarh Fort. Would they let deportation flights come to Vatican City if the deportees were from there?”