US Defends Deportation Of 104 Indian Migrants On Military Aircraft, Cites National Security

The United States has defended its decision to deport 104 Indian migrants, who had attempted to enter the country illegally, on a C-17 military aircraft that landed in Amritsar yesterday.

The deportees, many of whom had undertaken perilous journeys through multiple nations to reach the US, were shackled and restrained for the duration of the flight, only being released upon their arrival in India.

The US Embassy in India stated, "Enforcing our nation's immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States."

The migrants, originating from various Indian states, were apprehended as part of a large-scale crackdown on illegal immigration.

Of those deported, 33 were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.

The group also included 19 women and 13 minors, among them a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven.

A spokesperson for the US Embassy said, "I cannot go into further detail on the flight. I can share that enforcing our nation's immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States. It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens."