Opposition members have disrupted a session of the Indian Parliament, as they questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over its response to the alleged mistreatment of 104 of its citizens while being deported from the US.
Proceedings in the lower and upper houses of Parliament were adjourned on Thursday as lawmakers chanted slogans and called on the Modi government to address the deportation process, which was described as “degrading”.
In a notice to the secretary general of the lower house of Parliament, opposition Congress Party MP Gaurav Gogoi described the deportation process as “degrading”, adding that it raises “serious concerns about their human dignity and rights.”
The deportation came a week before United States President Donald Trump is expected to meet Modi in Washington, DC. Migration is also expected to come up during Trump’s talks with Modi.
On Wednesday, a US military plane carrying the undocumented immigrants landed in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in Punjab state, part of a mass deportation agenda spelled out by Trump.
“USBP (US Border Patrol) and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport,” USBP chief Michael Banks said in a post on X on Wednesday.
“If you cross illegally, you will be removed,” he said in the post, which had a video showing some men being led into a military plane in handcuffs and with their legs in chains.
All immigrants, barring children, were handcuffed during the flight, The Times of India and the Indian Express newspapers reported, quoting unnamed officials in Punjab who said they had spoken to the deportees.
The Press Trust of India news agency quoted one of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, as saying that deportees’ handcuffs and leg chains were taken off only after they landed in Amritsar.
Singh, 36, said they initially thought they were being taken to another camp in the US.
“Then a police officer told us that we were being taken to India,” he was quoted as saying.
After the deportees arrived in India, they underwent more hours of scrutiny at Amritsar airport before police escorted them out in small groups in police vehicles.
Some of the deportees were flown on a regular flight to Ahmedabad in Gujarat state on Thursday, closer to their homes.
India’s foreign minister responds
In response, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that New Delhi is engaging with the US to ensure that undocumented Indian immigrants are not mistreated while being deported.
Jaishankar told Parliament that the process of deportation followed by US authorities was not a new one and it allows for use of restraints on immigrants being returned to their home countries.
He added that “it is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad”.
Parliament Speaker Om Birla also tried to calm the opposition lawmakers, saying “the foreign country also has its own rules and regulations”.
Outside Parliament, opposition lawmakers, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, continued their protest as they demanded a response from Modi’s government. Some of them wore handcuffs and carried placards that read: “Humans, not prisoners”.
Although Indian immigrants have been deported by previous US administrations, it was the first time Washington used a military aircraft to do so.
India has cooperated with the US and said it is ready to accept the deported Indians after verification.
New Delhi says it is against undocumented immigration, mainly because it is linked to several forms of organised crime.
Enforcing immigration laws was “critically important” to the security and public safety of the US, said a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Delhi.
“It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens,” the spokesperson added.
A Pew Research Center report said that as of 2022, India ranked third – after Mexico and El Salvador – on the list of countries with the largest number of undocumented immigrants – 725,000 – living in the US.