 "Use of restraints part of SOPs, says S Jaishankar. What rules does US follow during deportation?")
The deportation of Indians allegedly illegally living in the United States has caused a huge row in India.
The Indian nationals have claimed that they were sent back on a military aircraft with their hands and legs shackled.
On Wednesday, a US Air Force aircraft carrying 104 Indian nationals landed in Amritsar as part of Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
The majority of the deportees hailed from Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat.
The Opposition, raising the issue in Parliament, has demanded that the Centre address the issue with the United States.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar addressed Parliament on the issue today (6 February).
Jaishankar said, “The deportation by the US are organised and executed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE) authority. The SOP of deportation by aircraft used by ICE which is effective from 2012 provides for the use of restraint. We have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained.”
Jaishankar said that the Centre is talking to the Donald Trump administration to ensure Indians are not being mistreated.
He added that countries are obliged to take their citizens back if they are found to be living abroad illegally.
“There has been no change, I repeat, no change from past procedure for the flight undertaken by the US on February 5,” Jaishankar added.
But what do we know about the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) followed while deporting illegal immigrants?
Let’s take a closer look:
A brief look at ICE
First, let’s take a brief look at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As per CNN, ICE is one of the two major agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which arrests those trying to cross the border illegally, is the other major agency of the DHS.
The DHS is responsible for enforcing immigration in the US.
While CBP focuses on the border, ICE works to remove those who are in the country illegally.
Like the DHS, ICE was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
It too began operating in 2003.
Today, ICE employs over 20,000 people across 400 offices in the US and around the world.
It’s annual budget is around $9 billion.
It carries out, on average, 146,000 deportations every year.
It has just 41,500 detention beds.
ICE is currently led by Caleb Vitello – the former assistant director for ICE’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs.
Vitello reports directly to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Under the Trump administration, ICE is targeting all undocumented immigrants.
The outlet quoted White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt as saying, “Of course, the…criminal drug dealers, the rapists, the murderers, the individuals who have committed heinous acts on the interior of our country and who have terrorized law-abiding American citizens, absolutely, those should be the priority of ICE.”
“But that doesn’t mean that the other illegal criminals who entered our nation’s borders are off the table.”
How deportation process works
The process begins with the illegal immigrant being arrested.
As per NBC, this could be at a traffic stop, a raid at a workplace or a knock on the door.
Immigrants are then taken to the nearest ICE detention facility.
Those who have been in the US for less than two years face expedited removal – no immigration judge needs to order their deportation, which can be carried out in weeks.
Those in America longer than two years can take years to be deported.
As per MigrationPolicy.org, as of October 2024, there were 3.6 million cases pending in immigration court.
This happens when an immigration judge delivers a “final order of removal.”
The illegal immigrant is then taken via commercial plane or via an ICE flight to one of its staging locations along the southwest border with Mexico.
The illegal immigrant is then kept here for a few days – after which they are sent to an airport, loaded on to an ICE chartered plane and sent to their home nation.
While they are not allowed carry-ons, one bag weighing 18 kilos is allowed.
Many passengers are fitted with handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain.
However, children and those accompanying children are not restrained.
There are around 13 to 20 guards on the flight as well as medical staff.
Immigrants are also given food on the flight home, as per NBC.
Indians allege inhumane treatment
On Wednesday, United States Customs and Border Protection Chief Michael W. Banks shared a video of the deportation of 104 Indians.
Jaspal Singh, a 36-year-old man from Punjab’s Gurdaspur, said that the transportees were shackled the entire trip.
Singh said he was captured by the US Border Patrol after he crossed the US border on January 24.
“We thought we were being taken to another camp. Then a police officer told us that we were being taken to India. We were handcuffed, and our legs were chained. These were opened at Amritsar airport,” Singh told PTI.
Singh said he was kept in custody in the US for 11 days before being sent home.
But an official told News18 that the immigrants being handcuffed during the flight is standard protocol.
He said it is done to ensure everyone is safe on the flight and to avoid an incident between US officials and those being deported .
He said this protocol has always been followed.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from various states landed here on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump government as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Of them, 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh, sources said.
Nineteen women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven, were among the deportees, they said.
India Today quoted Harwinder Singh, another deportee from Punjab, as saying he reached Mexico after going through Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua.
“We crossed hills. A boat that was carrying me along with other people was about to capsize in the sea, but we survived,” he said about the crossing to the US.
He said he witnessed one person dying in the Panama jungle.
Another person drowned at sea.
Another deportee from Punjab said “clothes worth Rs 30,000 to 35,000 were stolen” during the trip to the US.
Deportees from Punjab were taken to their native places in police vehicles from the Amritsar airport.
Jaspal said he was defrauded by a travel agent as he was promised that he would be sent to the US in a legal way.
“I had asked the agent to send me through a proper visa (for the US). But he deceived me,” said Jaspal.
He said that the deal was done at Rs 30 lakh.
Jaspal claimed that he reached Brazil by air in July last year. He said he was promised that the next leg of journey, to the US, would be by air too. However, he was “cheated” by his agent, who forced him to cross the border illegally.
After staying for six months in Brazil, he crossed the border to the US, but was arrested by the US Border Patrol.
Jaspal said the deportation left him shattered. “A huge sum was spent. The money was borrowed. These are issues of governments. When we go abroad for work, we have big dreams for a better future for our families. Those have now been shattered.”
Earlier, Jaspal’s cousin Jasbir Singh said, “We came to know about his deportation through the media on Wednesday morning.”
With inputs from agencies
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