The Opposition on Thursday raised an uproar in both Houses of Parliament over the “humiliating” manner in which 104 Indians illegally living in the US were deported a day earlier. Some Opposition leaders wore handcuffs to register their protest at the deportees being chained and shackled on the flight. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made a statement in both Houses on the matter, saying that deportations were not new and adding: "We are, of course, engaging with the US government to ensure that the returning deportees are not mistreated in any manner during the flight.” Jaishankar said the standard operating procedure for deportations by aircraft used by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been effective from 2012 and provides for "the use of restraints". "However, we have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained. Further, the needs of deportees 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," he told the House. The deportations that have started since the Donald Trump government took over in the US have raised a row in other countries as well. On January 26, the Colombian government barred two military planes carrying its citizens deported from the US from landing. President Gustavo Petro objected to the deportees being in chains, saying “the US can’t treat Colombian migrants like criminals” and that they need to be “treated with dignity”. However, later in the day, Petro had agreed to letting the flights in, while stating that Colombia was ready to facilitate “the dignified return” of the deportees. This was after Trump threatened excessive tariffs on Colombian goods over Petro’s stance. Petro initially warned of retaliatory tariffs, but went back on that swiftly. Then, on January 28, when a flight arrived in Brazil with deported immigrants in handcuffs, there was similar criticism over their treatment. DW reported that upon the instructions of Brazil’s Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, US agents were asked to remove the handcuffs. DW said Lewandowski had described the US action as “blatant disrespect” of fundamental rights of the detainees. And that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had directed that a Brazilian Air Force aircraft be mobilised to transport the Brazilians who had been deported to their final destination “in order to ensure that they could complete their journey with dignity and safety”. In a statement released on Thursday, amid questions being raised over the way the Indians had been deported, the US Embassy in New Delhi said "enforcing our nation's immigration laws… faithfully" was critically important to the national security and public safety of the US. While deportations are not unique to the Trump administration, using military planes for the same is new. Under President Joe Biden, in 2024 alone, the US sent 2,71,000 immigrants back to 192 countries. Over four years, his government claimed to have carried out 1.5 million deportations, as per The New York Times. During the Covid-19 pandemic, in his previous term, Trump had used Covid health emergency statute Title 42 to immediately expel border crossers from the country. When Biden took over, he continued the practice until the end of the public health emergency in May 2023. In his new term, Trump has issued more than 21 actions strengthening deportation, including how migrants are processed and deported from the US. Among these is the move to expand the scope of expedited deportations of undocumented migrants. Earlier, expedited removals were previously limited to areas within 100 miles (160 km) of US international borders, and applied to those who did not request asylum or failed to show a legitimate case for asylum. With Trump's changes, these removals can now occur anywhere in the US, and will apply to undocumented migrants who can't prove that they have been in the country for more than two years. In an executive order, Trump suspended the entry of all undocumented migrants to the US, and border patrol agents have been instructed to turn people away without granting them asylum hearings. Before the order, migrants were able to arrive at the US border and had the legal right to seek asylum.
