‘Restraints part of US protocol’: Jaishankar responds in Parliament after Indians seen in handcuffs during deportation

“The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft used by ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) that is effective from 2012… provides for the use of restraints,” Jaishankar said, responding to the Opposition’s concerns on the use of handcuffs and shackles.

India has been “informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained,” he said. “Further, the needs of deportees, including during transit, related to food and other necessities, including possible medical emergencies, are attended to. During toilet breaks, deportees are temporarily unrestrained if needed in that regard,” Jaishankar said.

Some of the deportees have alleged that they were only unshackled after landing at the Amritsar airport.

Sources said restraints are used to prevent people from fleeing or harming others as well as themselves.

Jaishankar said this SOP was “applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as military aircraft”. He said: “There has been no change from past procedure for the flight undertaken by the US on February 5, 2025. We are, of course, engaging the US Government to ensure that the returning deportees are not mistreated in any manner during the flight.”

Number of Indian deportees from US in the last few years, data by External Affairs Minister in Rajya Sabha.“It is in our collective interest to encourage legal mobility and discourage illegal movement. In fact, illegal mobility and migration has many other associated activities also of an illegal nature. Moreover, those of our citizens who have been inveigled into illegal movement themselves become prey to other crimes,” he said.

“It is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad. This is naturally subject to an unambiguous verification of their nationality. This is not a policy applicable to any specific country nor indeed one only practised by India,” Jaishankar said, adding that it is a generally accepted principle in international relations.

Defending the Centre on the issue of deportation and whether such cases have increased in recent years, Jaishankar said: “The process of deportation is not a new one, I repeat, not a new one, and has been ongoing for several years.”

Indicating that this happened even during the UPA government-led by Manmohan Singh and former US President Barack Obama’s term, he shared details of deportation from the United States since 2009, when the figure was 734, which almost doubled to 1,303 in 2016, and peaked to 2,042 in 2019 (see chart). Last year, 1,368 Indians were deported from the US, he said.

In Rajya Sabha, Opposition leaders, who were allowed brief interventions, questioned the way in which the deportees were transported and how the Indian government could allow this.

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala sought clarification on whether the government was aware that the Indian deportees would land in handcuffs like terrorists, and how many more Indians had been detained in the US in such inhuman conditions.

“We understand the deportation of illegal migrants is an ongoing process. But what steps has our government taken to address their concerns after they landed in India,” DMK’s Tiruchi Siva said.

TMC’s Saket Gokhale said India was defending the US’s deportation policy, and cited a Pew Research report that said there were over 7 lakh Indian illegal immigrants in the US. He also questioned the government on not being able to bring back all Indians made to serve in the Russian Army. When small countries like Colombia can send an aircraft to bring their citizens back, why can’t India do it, he asked.

AAP’s Sanjay Singh asked why the Indian nationals were transported in a prisoners’ van in Haryana, while CPM’s John Brittas asked if past deportations were done in military or civilian aircraft.

Jaishankar responded that the Indian government was aware of the deportation of 104 people. “We were the people who verified their nationality; we were the people who gave the aircraft clearance (to land),” he said.

On whether past deportations had happened in a similar manner, he said: “We have looked at deportations for the last 15 years. It is up to the ICE to charter an aircraft, it could be a military aircraft.”

Meanwhile, the United States Border Patrol released a video clip showing the Indian deportees, handcuffed and legs shackled, on social media. Sharing the video clip on X, Border Patrol chief Michael W Banks said: “USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport. This mission underscores our commitment to enforcing immigration laws and ensuring swift removals… If you cross illegally, you will be removed.”