India’s Parliament Erupts Over U.S. Deportation Flight of 104 Indian Migrants

Opposition MPs protested the abuse of 104 Indian immigrants deported by the US Thursday, causing chaos in India's Parliament. Handcuffed and chained, the migrants returned aboard a U.S. military plane and struggled to use facilities.

Congress legislator Renuka Chowdhury called the treatment “inhumane,” while Gaurav Gogoi called it “degrading.” Opposition MPs shouted slogans and demanded flight talks, forcing a parliamentary recess. Rahul Gandhi led handcuffed protests outside Parliament with signs reading “Humans, not prisoners.”

Deportee Jaspal Singh said their constraints were loosened only at Amritsar airport. Harvinder Singh, another migrant, said being shackled for 40 hours was “worse than hell.”

Following international criticism over a previous U.S. deportation trip to Brazil, the authorities requested an explanation for the “degrading treatment” of 88 migrants. U.S. civilian authorities utilize shackles during deportations, but military planes are rare.

India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told Parliament that U.S. regulations allow limits on deportation planes since 2012. That the U.S. guaranteed India that women and children were not confined and that deportation procedures had “no change” was stressed. The Indian government is working with the U.S. to prevent deportee cruelty, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to discuss immigration in his meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington next week. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi justified the deportations as necessary for national security.

Since last year, over 14,000 Indians have been caught at the Canadian border and over 25,000 at the Mexican border, trying to enter the U.S. illegally. According to Jaishankar, 15,668 Indian migrants have been deported from the U.S. since 2009.

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