The Indian Parliament erupted into an uproar on Thursday over reports that illegal migrants being deported to the country on an American military plane had faced mistreatment, including being shackled during the long intercontinental journey.
More than 100 illegal immigrants were returned to India on Wednesday. While deportations are nothing new — India is a big source of unauthorized migration to the United States — most have relied on commercial flights.
The use of a military aircraft, along with the claims of mistreatment, appear to have hit a nerve, creating a political headache for Prime Minister Narendra Modi days before he is expected to visit President Trump in Washington.
On Thursday, opposition lawmakers staged a protest in Parliament, some wearing handcuffs and carrying signs that read “humans, not prisoners.” They demanded to know how many Indians in the United States were facing imminent deportation.
In a scramble to control the damage, India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, told Parliament that deportation procedures “provide for the use of restraints,” and he said American officials had confirmed to them that women and children were not shackled.
His response revealed the delicate balance that his government needs to walk — between containing the domestic uproar and demonstrating its strictness on illegal immigration to the Trump administration.
Posted by John3262005
3 Comments
literal nothingburger! This wont even be remembered a week from now!
Absolutely disgusting behaviour on the part of the US government. These people were trafficked by agents and weren’t criminals and their response is to deport them on planes where people literally had to drag themselves to the restrooms?
Also BJP run state governments are more sympathetic to the immigrants than Jaishankar is. I expected more from a technocrat.
nope. if anything, indian govt wants trump to be as brash as possible when it comes to deportation. so that when india starts campaigning for mass deportation, usa wont be able to butt in saying “human rights violations”