“A plane carrying 119 Indians arrived at Amritsar airport on Saturday. It is the second such arrival in a span of 10 days. A third plane with 157 deportees is expected to land in India on Sunday. Of the total deportees, 67 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. They were sent back on the same military aircraft that took off from San Antonio, Texas, on February 5. The deportees were shackled and restrained throughout the flight, only to be freed upon arrival in India. Most of the deportees belonging to Punjab earlier said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families, but their dreams were shattered when they were caught on the US border and sent back in shackles. India is the third source of undocumented immigrants in the US after Mexico and El Salvador. The US Embassy in India said \”enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States\””
