Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Goa NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar today informed that two deported Goans from United States Of America will land at Amritsar airport today.
Sawaikar also said that both are expected to reach Goa by February 16th.
“2 deported Goans will land at Amritsar airport today from the US, they will reach Goa by 16th Feb, protocol has to be followed, will disclose details as and when we receive them,” said Sawaikar
Sawaikar also said that although he has the knowledge about a special flight from the US carrying 119 deported Indian nationals, there are no clear details about these Goans.
“We either receive such details from the Union Ministry of External Affairs or relatives of such people, adding that officers of the Commissionerate of NRI Affairs, Goa are on standby, and ready to bring these deportees from Amritsar to Goa, if need be.
“We will provide the related information as we receive it,” he said.
Amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration, a second US plane carrying 119 deported Indian nationals is expected to arrive at Punjab’s Amritsar airport around 10 pm today.
Among them, 67 are from Punjab, 33 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 Kashmir.
A third plane carrying the deportees is also expected to land in India tomorrow.
The deportations are likely to continue on a bi-weekly basis, with similar flights bringing back Indian nationals in the coming weeks until all undocumented immigrants have returned.
First US military plane carrying 104 deported Indians landed on February 5. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
Many of these migrants had spent a huge amount of money on promises of legal entry into the US. Instead, they endured gruelling, multi-country treks arranged by human traffickers.
As the Indians landed, many horror stories followed about the manner in which they were transported from the US to India. A video shared by the US Border Patrol also showed the migrants being handcuffed and their legs shackled.
As they deboarded the plane, visuals showed the Indians made to a shuffled walk – something that is commonly associated with hardened criminals.
Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had responded to the Opposition’s criticism saying that the deportations by the US were organised and executed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – which provides the use of restraints.
“However, we have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained. 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,” he said.
The minister also informed that such actions by the US authorities were “not new” and revealed the data of the deported Indians in the last 15 years.
A total of 15,756 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported to India from the US since 2009 – of which 2019 saw the most number of deportations (2,042), followed by 1,889 in 2020, the year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world.
