New Delhi: Even as another batch of 96 Indians has been verified and cleared for deportation from the US, Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said on Friday (February 7) that any issue of “mistreatment” during repatriation flights remains part of an “ongoing conversation” and that India has “registered its concern” with US authorities over the handling of deportees.
On Wednesday afternoon, a US military plane carrying 104 Indians who had entered the country illegally landed in Amritsar. The deportation took place amid President Donald Trump’s push to crack down on illegal immigration, with the US military being deployed for deportation flights.
The Indian government faced sharp criticism in parliament after reports emerged that the deportees had been shackled throughout the 40-hour flight, including while eating and using the restroom.
Questions were also raised about why India had accepted the use of a US military aircraft for deportation when other countries had objected, as such a practice had not been followed in previous cases.
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar told parliament on Thursday that US authorities had referred to standard operating procedures (SOPs) established in 2012 for the treatment of deportees during their repatriation.
A day later, when asked whether India had formally protested the treatment of its citizens, foreign secretary Misri said, “Yes, we have been in touch with US authorities on this issue on a continuing basis, and we have registered our concern with the US authorities on these matters”. He, however, did not characterise the conversations as a “protest”.
In response to another question, he said, “On the issue of mistreatment, it is a valid issue to raise, and we continue to emphasise to US authorities that there should be no mistreatment of deportees. But this is a continuing exercise and conversation and we will continue to take up any instances of mistreatment that come to our attention”.
The Indian foreign minister stated in parliament that the SOPs specify that women and children should not be chained. However, multiple reports, including by The Wire, citing deportees’ accounts, confirmed that women had also been restrained.
When asked about the reported shackling of women in violation of the SOPs, Misri said, “As I said, while we have heard from US officials and have been made aware of the SOPs on the use of restraints – and EAM [Jaishankar] described this in his statement yesterday as well – notwithstanding that, if there are specific issues brought to our attention or that we observe … we do make our concerns known to the United States, as this kind of treatment can perhaps be avoided. These are conversations that we are having with the United States.”
Notably, Misri was careful not to describe these exchanges as a “protest”, a diplomatically stronger term than expressing “concern”.
While over 17,000 Indians may have been served final removal orders as per US data, the actual numbers who are being deported in the early days of the second Trump administration are in the low three figures.
Sources told The Wire that the US had initially provided India with a list of 203 names for deportation. Of these, the first batch of 104 individuals arrived on Wednesday. Another 96, whose nationality has been verified, have also been cleared for deportation.
At the media briefing, Misri stated that when India recently sought clarity from the US about numbers of potential returnees, “we have been told that there are up to 487 presumed Indian citizens with final removal orders with the US authorities”.
Following India’s request, the senior Indian diplomat said, “Identifying details and particulars have been supplied to us with regard to 298 individuals. We received this a short while ago.”
He added, “We are checking on this and will revert to our US counterparts on these issues. About the others, we have not yet been provided details.”
Regarding the use of a military aircraft, Misri said the nature of the flight was determined by the specific nature of the operation. “The US characterised it as a national security operation and requested that this would be the quickest way to conduct the deportation,” he said.
He also noted that India would discuss alternatives to military flights. “However, other types of flights have been used in the past, and we remain open to exploring all alternatives in the future”.
After spending two days in France, Modi will travel to Washington for a short working visit to meet Trump on February 13. This will be their first meeting following the inauguration of Trump’s second presidency last month.