New Delhi: A flight carrying the fourth batch of illegal Indian immigrants deported by the US landed in Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Sunday. They were flown back from Panama to New Delhi via Istanbul onboard a Turkish Airlines flight. There were 12 deportees in the batch. Four went to their home in Punjab’s Amritsar. Three each were from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Panama and Costa Rica are working with the US to help the repatriation of deported migrants. As many as 299 immigrants deported under US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies are currently being held in a hotel in Panama while authorities are working to send them to their home countries.
As 40 percent have refused voluntary repatriation, UN agencies are exploring alternative destinations. The situation has raised concerns about their confinement, with Panama serving as a transit hub while the US covers the related expenses.
Exact number of Indian immigrants deported to Panama unclear
The exact number of Indian immigrants among the 299 deported to Panama is still not clear. They have been deported there after Panama President Jose Raul Mulino has agreed to make Panama a “bridge” country for deportees.
Defending the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, President Trump has pointed out that his administration is “draining the swamp by sending home fraudsters, cheaters, globalists and deep state bureaucrats”. Till 2022, unauthorised immigrants represented 3.3 per cent of the total US population, and 23 per cent of the foreign-born population, a Pew Research Centre study said.
Earlier, on February 5, a US military aircraft carrying the first batch of around 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport in Amritsar. On February 15, the second flight carrying 130 Indians deported from the US arrived at Amritsar airport. On February 16, the third batch landed at the same airport.
