Kusum Arora 
Amritsar: A US Army plane carrying 104 undocumented Indian migrants at the Indian Air Force Station base in Amritsar on Wednesday (February 5), over 24 hours after their deportation, marking the first such flight to a country outside the Americas since the inauguration of the second Trump administration.
According to the manifest, the deportees included 24 women and 17 minors, the youngest being a four-year-old boy from Gujarat.
Of the total, 33 were from Gujarat and Haryana each, while another 30 were from Punjab. The remaining eight were from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chandigarh.
A large contingent of media personnel awaited the deportees. The plane landed around 2 p.m.
The families of the some deportees also arrived at the airport to receive them. Among them was the grandfather of a youth from Punjab, waiting for his grandson.
“He had reached the US just 15 days ago before being taken to a detention center. Now, he is coming back,” said the visibly distressed elderly man.
The young man’s mother, sitting quietly behind him, refused to speak and walked away from the exit gate where she had been waiting. As the media pressed to speak with the heartbroken family members, they grew anxious and hurried out of the airport premises.
Authorities had planned to deboard them through the cargo side rather than the regular arrival channel. Buses were seen entering the area to transport them.
For the Punjab deportees, local district police had been called in to escort them back before handing them over to their relatives.
US President Donald Trump had vowed to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants during his successful presidential campaign. He began with high-profile expulsions to Central and South America, where the Brazilian and Colombian governments objected to the use of military planes and raised concerns over the deportees’ treatment during the flights.
The US military plane carrying 104 deported Indian migrants landing at Amritsar on Wednesday (February 5, 2025). Photo: By special arrangement.
Speaking to The Wire, AAP Punjab spokesperson Neel Garg said, “We will write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seek his intervention on this issue. Modi government claims that it shares a friendly relation with the US, hence we will request PM Modi to raise the concerns of those who are still in the US.”
Modi is expected to meet Trump during his visit to Washington next week.
“Moreover, PM Modi will be meeting US president Donald Trump, hence the central government should speak up. Moreover as this is a matter directly under the control of the Center government, they should respond. Our AAP MPs will also raise this issue in the parliament. It is highly unfortunate that the youths have been deported,” added Garg.
There has yet to be any response or reaction from the Indian government.
(This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.)