‘Inhuman’: As Modi Visits Trump, Indignation of Panted Indian Deported | Migration

New Delhi, India – Coal winner Kaur had tried and tried to call her husband in the United States again. After two weeks of the connection that did not go through, she was devoured with anxiety, she said from her home in Hoshiarpur in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

“I was really scared of what could have happened to him – if he was robbed or killed there. He is the father of my children and I was afraid of if I ever wanted to see him again, ”Kaur said.

Then she saw a news -telecast: President Donald Trump’s administration deported parties of illegal Indian immigrants.

Her husband, Harvinder Singh, 40, was among the 104 Indians who had entered the United States illegally in the last few years deported by authorities on Wednesday as Trump doubled by a key selection that drove him back to power in January .

Singh had made a desperate journey through jungles, crossed rivers and sea, to the United States in search of a better life for his family back in Punjab. This week, like many other imprisoned, including women, Singh had his hands and Ben Mansjet during the 40-hour journey to Amritsar, a city in northern India.

The Visuals of the Indian citizens-linked in chains-parades against a US military aircraft, for its farthest journey ever as a deportation flight, have led to anger in India. Thursday, hours after the deported landed landed, staged opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi from the Congress, a protest wearing handcuffs outside the New Delhi Parliament.

Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the White House on February 13, the outrage of the treatment of Indian citizens of US authorities is also laced with a matter of Modis bromance with Trump. If Trump is truly Modi’s friend that both leaders claim, why is New Delhi not able to prevent him from getting steps that can complicate ties?

The answer, says experts, is a difficult balancing act that the Modi government believes it should control.

“The problem with the Trump administration is that there are a number of problems on the table, including tariffs,” said Harsh Pant, a geopolitan analyst at New Delhi-based think tank, Obsering Research Foundation, referring to Trump’s threats of imposing customs on Indian Import . “So where do you give in and where do you negotiate?

“To make Trump happy, there is transactional by nature, India does not want to raise the effort too much (on the immigration issue) and absorbs the cost,” Pant told Al Jazeera. “There are other challenges to face as well.”

‘Crass side of America’

After Trump declared a national emergency of immigration, his administration started military flights to deport undocumented migrants. The US authorities have sent at least six planeloads of immigrants to Latin America, which has created tension with Colombia and Brazil. Brazil’s government protested against the “degrading treatment of passengers during the flight” after it turned out that its nationals were bound and handcuffed while deported.

However, India has not said that it has protested for a similar treatment that has met for its citizens. Of the 104 Indians in the plane that landed on Wednesday, more children were – they are not known to have been bound.

From 2022, India ranked in third place, after Mexico and El Salvador, among countries with the largest number of undocumented immigrants – 725,000 – living in the United States.

US border patrol chief Michael Banks wrote at X that the authorities “successfully returned illegal aliens to India” and exceeded a video showing chopped men who were brought into the military plane: “If you cross illegally, you will be removed. “

Anil Trigunayat, a former Indian diplomat who has served in the United States, told Al Jazeera that “the treatment with Indian citizens and draws them as criminals like this is unprecedented” in his experience.

“Handcuffs and the kinds of things are essentially inhumane. They have shown a very Krass side of the US business, ”Trigunayat said. “This is Krass’s language. And absolutely unjustified and unnecessary. “

‘She was tied in chains’

After a rebellion of opposition leaders in both parliamentary houses on Thursday, the Indian Minister of External Affairs told Jaiskar told Parliament that the government was working with the Trump administration to ensure that Indian citizens are not abused while deported.

Jaisankar also noted in the address that the US operating procedure had allowed “use of restrictions” while deporting since 2012 and adding “there has been no change from previous procedure.”

He also shared government data from 2009 about the deported and touched at a height of 2042 in 2019 before falling marginally again. Last year, 1368 undocumented Indian immigrants were deported by the US authorities.

He added that New Delhi was told by the United States that women and children were not detained and their requirements during transit, including food, medical help and toilet breaks, were complied with.

It was not the experience of Khusboo Patel, a 35-year-old from Modi’s home state in Gujarat, on the 40-hour journey at home, her family said.

“She was tied in chains throughout her journey, strictly limited to her seat,” her older brother, Varun Patel, told Al Jazeera from her home in Vadodara, a city in eastern Gujarat.

Khusboo had been in the United States hardly for a month when she was detained by authorities. “We were not aware of her whereabouts, and that made us anxious,” said Patel, his brother. The family learned about Khusboo’s return when local media reached out and asked about their homes.

“She told us they were brought in as prisoners and criminals,” he said. “No one hurt her, but it was a terrible experience.”

Patel said he was disappointed with the modi government’s failure to “ensure a worthy return of our citizens”.

“What can they do for us now? That time is gone. Our government activated this abuse. “

Broken dreams

Back at home in Hoshiarpur, Singh and Kaur are now worried about how they recover the debt of more than $ 55,000 caused by friends, a local bank and small-time providers they sustained to pay agents in an attempt to get Singh to the United States. The couple, parents of two children, sold their agricultural land – but that wasn’t enough. Not at a distance.

“We were cheated by our agent who left my husband from one place to another,” Kaur (35) told Al Jazeera.

When she spoke with a muted voice, Kaur said she felt blurred when she saw the immigrants tied in cuffs. “I’m pleased that my husband is at my house now,” she said. “But now we are worried about the huge debt we are under. How will we ever recover that money? “

Vinod Kumar, head of the Sociology Department at Panjab University, Chandigarh, said that thousands of young people continue to sell their possessions and record risky, so-called Dunki routes in search of a better life. “With deportation, they finished their careers in both homes and abroad,” he said, adding that a majority of deportors come from lower -income families.

“In the past, this trend was limited to Punjab, Gujarat or to some states in (southern India),” said Kumar, who specializes in diaspora policy. Now it is expanded to other parts of India.

Singh and the others in the plane with him are back where they traveled.

“They have to restart from scratch now,” Kumar said.