New Delhi: After Opposition outrage over Indian deportees being shackled on a long US flight, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar stated on Thursday (February 6) that the use of “restraints” was standard US policy and defended the use of military aircraft, despite other major South American countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia only accepting non-military repatriation flights.
In a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha, Jaishankar explained that the “standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft used by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], effective from 2012, provides for the use of restraints.” He clarified that this ICE policy does not apply to women and children.
He further stated that the “needs of deportees, including food, other necessities, and potential medical emergencies, are attended to during transit.” He also mentioned that “deportees are temporarily unrestrained during toilet breaks if necessary.”
His statement came amid accounts from Indian deportees describing how their hands and legs were chained, while the head of the US border protection agency posted a video showing shackled Indians shuffling into the belly of a C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The United States deported 104 Indians on the military flight, its first such operation outside the American hemisphere.
Stating that ICE’s standard policy on deportation flights was applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as military aircraft, he asserted, “There has been no change, I repeat, no change from past procedure for the flight undertaken by the US on 5 February 2025”.
Also read: US Border Chief Posts Video of Shackled Indians Boarding Plane, Opp Calls it ‘Black Day’ for India
However, Jaishankar’s statement implied, but did not explicitly confirm, that passengers on US deportation flights to India organised by ICE in previous years were also subjected to “restraints.” The minister also provided no clarity on what “restraints” entailed under US law.
One Indian deportee clearly stated that their handcuffs were not removed when they were given food and drink or needed to use the washroom. Harwinder Singh, a resident of Tahli village in Punjab, mentioned that the handcuffs and chains were removed only after the plane landed at Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport in Amritsar.
Lovpreet Kaur, who was deported with her young son, told local media that she had also been chained. A relative of another woman deportee told The Wire that she had been chained, as marks were visible on her skin when she returned home.
Jaishankar defended the use of the military plane, stating that they had reviewed deportations over the last 15 years, and it was up to ICE to charter any aircraft. “It could be a military aircraft, but whichever aircraft comes in, it is under the authority of ICE,” he said.
However, the minister did not clarify why other countries, which had accepted far greater volumes of deportees in the past than India, had objected to the use of military planes for repatriation under the Trump administration.
In the Upper House of parliament, an Opposition member asked why India did not send its own military aircraft to pick up its citizens, as other nations had done. This question, however, was not addressed by Jaishankar in his response.
As per a The New York Times article dated January 31, only six military flights have delivered deportees to other countries in the first two weeks of the second Trump administration. These have been identified as Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru.
However, the newspaper also reported out that during the same time, dozens of non-military deportation flights left for countries around the American hemisphere.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro had protested that previous deportation flights were always on civilian aircraft, arguing that military transport violated the dignity of those being deported. After negotiations, Colombia resumed accepting deportees, but they were flown back on Colombian Air Force planes instead.
Peru, which had accepted a military flight, observed that it was “an exceptional case”.
When Brazil protested the “inhumane” conditions, it was in response to a repatriation on a civilian flight chartered by GlobalX. Mexico, too, refused to accept deportees on military aircraft but has allowed their return on other planes.
Earlier, Jaishankar had reiterated India’s policy of deploring illegal migration, while supporting legal mobility across borders. He also gave Bureau of Immigration figures of Indians who were deported from United States since 2009. While 1368 Indians were deported in 2024, the highest number reached was 2042 in 2019.
Following Jaishankar’s statement in the Rajya Sabha, Vice President and chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar said that Rule 251 allows a minister to make a statement on matters of public importance and no questions can be asked.
But he had decided to make “a departure that will not graduate to a precedent” following a request from the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, which was agreed to by the leader of the House J.P. Nadda and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju.
During their interventions, Opposition members raised questions about whether the government had prior information about the deportations, whether the Indians who were deported had consular access, and how the government plans to address the issue of illegal immigration including the unemployment crisis in the country that is forcing people to undertake such a risky exercise.
“Does the government know that there are 7,25,000 such Indian citizens in the US who are being readied to be deported? How many more Indians have been kept in detention centres in such inhuman conditions and have they been given consular access?” asked Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala.
“Does the ‘Abki bar Trump Sarkar’ that spent 100 crores on Namaste Trump think that these 7,25,000 Indians went to the US because the 2 crore jobs per year that was promised to them was not delivered? When a small country like Columbia can tell the US to behave humanely with their citizens then why not the Indian government?” he added.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Tiruchi N. Siva said that while the members accepted that deportations are an ongoing process, “the way they have been sent is not in a proper manner.”
“I would like to know whether the Indian embassy was contacted and given the information that this number of people are going to be deported. And in that case what was the reaction? What steps has our government taken if they were informed about the deportations? How many women and children were there and after they reached India, has the government reached out to them to address their concerns?” Siva asked.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale said that the minister’s statement was “baffling” as he seemed “more interested in defending the US deportation policies than the interest of our own citizens.”
“From the year 2016, the number of deportations have doubled,” he said, adding that the US deportations are only a part of it, Indians are still being forced to serve the Russian army in its war in Ukraine.
“We are being told by the Treasury benches that India is the fifth largest economy and will become the third largest soon. As the Vishwaguru, our citizens being chained, their legs being shackled, when countries like Columbia – which don’t even figure in the top ten – can send an aircraft and bring their citizens back with dignity, what stops our government from sending one aircraft?” he asked.
“Clearly there is economic distress, they are running away from the country for better economic opportunities, how is the ministry ensuring that so many Indians don’t have to risk their lives to run away from a failing economy?” Gokhale added.
Also read: ‘Handcuffed, Legs Chained, 40-Hour Long Ordeal’: Indians Deported on US Military Plane
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh said that while the Indians were brought back under inhuman conditions, they were not given dignity even on Indian soil.
“They were taken in prisoner vans in Haryana in their own country. Forget what the US has done – you are defending that. They were brought in prisoner vans on our own soil. Smaller countries are sending aircraft to bring back their citizens. Will the Indian government also do this in future?” he asked.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Kumar Jha sought to know if the Indian embassy provided any legal advice to those who were deported and how it plans to crackdown on illegal immigration agencies.
“What is the government doing about the agencies who are openly saying they will make you reach your favoured country? They can be illegal and infiltrators abroad but they are our citizens, how does this deportation align with India’s broader policy of protecting its citizens abroad? Will the Indian government raise this inhuman aspect of this at a multilateral or bilateral platform?” he asked.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) MP John Brittas said that while the minister had listed deportations, there was a lack of data on the number of illegal immigrants abroad.
Earlier Opposition members had staged a protest inside the parliament premises, holding placards that read “Humans, not prisoners,” “Indians insulted,” with several Opposition members standing in handcuffs.
Later in the Lok Sabha, while Jaishankar delivered the same statement as he had in the Upper House, Speaker Om Birla did not allow Opposition members to ask any question. Through the minister’s statement, Opposition members could be heard chanting slogans of “Shame Shame,” leading to an uproar in the House. The House was then adjourned for the day, moments after Jaishankar’s statement.