Women, children in 2nd batch of deportees from US 'not restrained during flight'

Women and children onboard the second deportation plane of the US that landed in Punjabs Amritsar were not restrained during the flight sources said on Sunday The assertion came in the backdrop of the furore that was created amid claims of illtreatment meted out to the first batch of deportees from the USThe C17 aircraft carrying over 115 illegal Indian immigrants including women and children landed at the Amritsar airport late on Saturday night with the men among the deportees claiming they were in shackles during the journeyIt was the second batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrantsOn the deportation flight that arrived in Amritsar on Saturday women and children were not restrained during the flight the sources saidThese deportees are natives of Punjab Haryana Gujarat Uttar Pradesh Goa Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and KashmirThe second batch of illegal immigrants from the US comprising 67 Punjabis landed at Amritsars Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport on Saturday night in a special plane officials saidEarlier a US military plane with 104 deportees landed in Amritsar on February 5Officials said besides 67 immigrants from Punjab Saturdayrsquos flight will have 33 people from Haryana eight from Gujarat three from Uttar Pradesh two each from Goa Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and KashmirThat was the second batch of Indians deported by the Trump government as part of a crackdownThe deportation of these individuals is part of a wider crackdown by US immigration authorities on those who either entered the country illegally or overstayed their visasSources have revealed that deportations will continue on a biweekly basis with similar flights bringing back Indian nationals in the coming weeks until all undocumented immigrants are returned to their home countriesThe government of India through diplomatic channels continues to work on repatriating its nationals who are affected by such deportationsWhile the process has caused distress for many families the authorities emphasise that the deportations are part of the ongoing effort to address illegal immigration and those who wish to return home will be facilitatedWith the ongoing crackdown both the US and India are taking steps to address immigration challenges while ensuring their respective laws are upheldPrime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump during their recent meeting stressed the need to fight against the ldquoecosystemrdquo that lures people from ordinary families with big dreams and promises and brings them to other countries as illegal immigrantsldquoWe are of the opinion that anybody who enters and lives in another country illegally they have absolutely no legal right or authority to live in that countryrdquo PM Modi said at a joint press conference with Trump in the White House on ThursdayOpposing the move to land the next plane carrying deported Indians at the Amritsar airport Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday described it as a ldquoconspiracy of the Union government to defame Punjab and PunjabisrdquoInteracting with the media here the Chief Minister said that despite Punjab being the food bowl and sword arm of India the move to land the plane carrying deported Indians from the US ldquois just another attempt of the Government of India to tarnish the image of Punjab globallyrdquoMann questioned the move of the Ministry of External Affairs MEA to choose Amritsar for landing this plane whereas there are hundreds of other airports in the countryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever