As part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants, a U.S. military plane carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants, including 13 children, landed in Amritsar on Wednesday.

This marks the first time illegal Indian immigrants have been deported from the U.S. under measures initiated on Trump’s first day in office on January 20. The C-17 aircraft, which departed from San Antonio, Texas, touched down at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport at 1:59 pm. Local police and civil administration officials were present to receive the group, comprising 79 men and 25 women.

A representative from the US Embassy was also present at the airport. Of the 104 deported immigrants, 33 came from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three from Maharashtra, three from Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.

Sources say that most of these individuals were apprehended at the US-Mexico border. They marked that while the deportees may have left India through legal channels, they attempted to enter the US via the illegal "donkey" route. Consequently, they are not considered offenders under Indian law, and there is no basis for arrest. In cases where their passports were not available, authorities could identify them using biometrics.

Earlier reports mentioned that about 200 Indians were on board the military aircraft, but it was later confirmed that only 104 were present.

On Tuesday, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav announced that the state government would welcome the arriving immigrants by setting up counters at the airport. Meanwhile, Punjab's NRI Affairs Minister, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, expressed his disappointment over the US decision to deport the immigrants and said he would meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar next week to discuss the matter.

Dhaliwal argued that these individuals, who have contributed to India’s economy should have been granted permanent residency rather than deported, noting that many Indians initially came to the US on work permits and later became illegal when those permits expired.

President Trump has pledged to conduct the largest deportation in US history, with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) compiling a list of nearly 18,000 undocumented Indians out of 1.5 million people targeted for deportation.

Approximately 725,000 illegal immigrants from India currently reside in the US, making them the third-largest group of unauthorized immigrants after those from Mexico and El Salvador. Additionally, the Pentagon has begun providing flights to deport over 5,000 immigrants held in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California, with military aircraft already transporting migrants to Guatemala, Peru, and Honduras.

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