- Tuesday, February 04, 2025
A US official claimed that a C-17 aircraft had departed for India with migrants aboard, but would not arrive for at least 24 hours
By: India Weekly
A US military plane is deporting migrants to India, a US official said on Monday (3), the farthest destination of the Trump administration’s military transport flights for migrants.
President Donald Trump has increasingly turned to the military to help carry out his immigration agenda, including sending additional troops to the US-Mexico border, using military aircraft to deport migrants and opening military bases to house them.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the C-17 aircraft had departed for India with migrants aboard but would not arrive for at least 24 hours.
An India Today report says the military flight, carrying 205 illegal Indian migrants, has left San Antonio for Amritsar.
The immigrants were verified before being sent back and the aircraft is likely to stop at Ramstein, Germany, for refuelling.
The Pentagon has also started providing flights to deport more than 5,000 immigrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
So far, military aircraft have flown migrants to Guatemala, Peru and Honduras.
The military flights are a costly way to transport migrants. Reuters reported that a military deportation flight to Guatemala last week likely cost at least $4,675 (£3,766.67) per migrant.
Earlier, during his US visit, India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar said the Modi government is open to the legitimate return of undocumented Indians to their country.
“As a government, we are obviously very much supportive of legal mobility because we do believe in a global workplace. We want Indian talent and Indian skills to have the maximum opportunity at the global level. At the same time, we are also very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration,” Jaishankar told a group of Indian reporters in Washington.
“Because you also know that when something illegal happens, many other illegal activities get joined onto it, which is not desirable. It is certainly not good reputationally. So, with every country, and the US is no exception, we have always maintained that if any of our citizens are there illegally, and if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been open to their legitimate return to India,” Jaishankar said.
The minister was responding to a query on news reports that India is working with the Trump administration for the deportation of some 180,000 Indians in the US who are either undocumented or have overstayed their visas.
While meeting Jaishankar, the US secretary of state Marco Rubio had expressed Trump administration’s desire to advance economic ties with India, and address concerns related to irregular migration. (Agencies)
