NEW DELHI, Feb 5: The Congress on Wednesday expressed sadness over “pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated” while being deported from the US and recalled that America had to express regret over the treatment meted out to India diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013 after the then UPA government retaliated sharply.
A military transport aircraft of the US is bringing a group of Indian migrants, in the first such deportation to India as part of the big crackdown on illegal immigrants by President Donald Trump in his second term at the White House.
Without directly commenting on the deportation flight carrying the Indians, a spokesperson at the US embassy in New Delhi said on Tuesday that Washington is tightening immigration laws and removing illegal migrants.
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Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, “Looking at the pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated while being deported from the US saddens me as an Indian.”
“I remember in December of 2013, an Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was handcuffed and strip searched in America. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh registered a strong protest with US Ambassador Nancy Powell,” Khera said in a post on X.
“The UPA government retaliated sharply. Leaders like Ms Meira Kumar, Sushil Kumar Shinde & Rahul Gandhi refused to meet the US Congressional delegation (George Holding, Pete Olson, David Schweikert, Rob Woodalland Madeleine Bordallo) that was visiting India at that time,” he recalled.
Khera said then PM Manmohan Singh termed the US action ‘deplorable’.
India withdrew several perks given to the US embassy, including imports of food and alcohol at concessional rates by embassy staff, he said.
Khera said Income Tax department started investigating the American Embassy school.
“John Kerry expressed regrets at the treatment given to Devyani Khobragade. The US administration called up foreign secretary Sujatha Singh to convey the regrets of the USA,” he said.
A 1999-batch IFS officer, Khobragade was arrested in New York on visa fraud charges, triggering a row between the two countries with India retaliating by downgrading privileges of certain categories of US diplomats among other steps.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said the media kerfuffle over the deportation of 150 plus illegal Indian migrants from the United States obscures a few facts.
“This is not the first such planeload, nor is it directly related to the ascent of @realDonaldTrump. There were 1100 Indians deported in the previous fiscal year (ending September 2024), under Biden, not Trump. As of 2022, there were 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants in the US — the third-largest group, outnumbered only by nationals of Mexico and El Salvador, he said.
“Since October 2020, US Customs and Border Protection officials have detained nearly 170,000 Indian migrants attempting to cross the border illegally from either Canada or Mexico. They are all subject to deportation,” Tharoor said.
The US action comes in the midst of India and the US finalising various elements of a likely visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington from February 12 to 13.
It is learnt a C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US Air Force took off with the deported Indians from an airbase near Texas. However there is no clarity on the number of people on board the plane. (PTI)
