Insults against Trump: Indians tied up during 40-hour flight

Insults against Trump: Indians tied up during 40-hour flight

In a recent incident that is stoking anger abroad over President Donald Trump's immigration policies, around 100 deported Indian migrants were kept in handcuffs during their 40-hour return flight, including during bathroom breaks. This measure caused outrage in India.

Protests in India

On Thursday, Indian lawmakers demonstrated outside Parliament, some wearing handcuffs while others mocked the vaunted friendship between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In New Delhi, members of the youth wing of the largest opposition party burned a doll depicting Trump.

Reactions to the deportation policy

The anger in India comes just ahead of an expected visit by Modi to the White House, where he will meet Trump, whom he has described as a "true friend." S. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, a government minister in the western state of Punjab, where the deportation flight landed, called on Modi to "use his friendship to solve the problem." He also questioned "how useful this friendship is if it cannot help Indian citizens in need," according to a statement from his office.

Experiences of deportees

The flight to India was the longest since the Trump administration began using military aircraft to deport migrants, a U.S. official said. Akashdeep Singh, 23, who arrived in Punjab on Wednesday with 103 other deportees, said: "Our hands were tied and our ankles bound with chains before we boarded the flight." He added: "We asked the military officials to remove our handcuffs to eat or go to the toilet, but they treated us terribly and without any consideration."

Oppression and the search for better opportunities

Deportee Sukhpal Singh, 35, also spoke of how the handcuffs remained on throughout the flight, including during a refueling stop on the Pacific island of Guam. “They treated us like criminals,” he said. “When we tried to stand up because our legs were swelling from the handcuffs, they would yell at us to sit down.”

Young Indians looking for work opportunities make up a significant proportion of undocumented migrants in the USA, many of whom have made the dangerous journey through Latin America towards the US border. Many migrants report a lack of prospects in their homeland, where a labor crisis is smothering the hopes of young people in the world's most populous country.

A rise in illegal immigration

In just four years, the number of Indian citizens entering the US illegally has increased dramatically - from 8,027 in fiscal year 2018-19 to 96,917 in 2022-23, official government data shows. Families have already told how they have sold land to pay the high fees charged by “travel agents” who help migrants make the risky journey to the US.

Sukhpal Singh, who has a son and a daughter, explained: “I wanted to work, for a better life, for a better future.” He had hoped to be able to better provide for his family by getting a job in the USA. "You see it in movies and hear from people that there is work there and people are successful. That's why I wanted to go."