Chandigarh: The Punjab government is facing calls to rehabilitate, compensate and provide jobs to the state’s residents deported by the US Wednesday, even as a debate rages on about the culpability of the returnees who allegedly immigrated illegally.
The state Friday announced the constitution of a fact-finding committee to inquire into the issues of illegal immigration and human trafficking in light of the deportations.
The US Wednesday sent back 104 Indian immigrants via a military aircraft that landed at Amritsar international airport. Most of those deported were from Haryana and Gujarat (33 each), and Punjab (30). Three others were from Maharashtra, three from Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. It was the first such batch of Indians deported by the new Donald Trump administration in US as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Those deported have since alleged that they were duped into entering the US illegally and also described the horror and humiliation of being “shackled” for the journey to India. The matter led to a huge uproar in Parliament last week.
Police in Punjab and Haryana have started summoning the deportees for information on the “dunki” route touts.
Many of those deported have called themselves victims of fraud, saying they were fooled into believing that their entry to the US was “completely legitimate”, denying they were active participants in the process of illegal migration.
Sources in the police told ThePrint that according to initial information gathered from the deported, in most cases, the immigration agents were based in Dubai and operated through sub-agents in Punjab.
The sources said that in most cases, the individual who was deported was fully aware they were going to the US illegally.
“Many of these persons walked for miles through jungles to enter the US and had a clear idea of what they were doing. Some of them would have even handed over false documents to facilitate their illegal entry,” said a senior police officer.
Senior BJP leader and Haryana cabinet minister Anil Vij Friday said the deported youth should be booked for indulging in criminal activity.
“They are part of the illegality that was committed, apart from the immigration agent. They should also be booked. When I was the home minister, twice we had booked more than a thousand such illegal immigrants,” Vij told the media.
Former additional chief secretary of Punjab K.B.S. Sidhu wrote on X that he had zero sympathy for those who had returned. “I have zero sympathy for our young citizens who are making noises about undue restraint on the military flight back to India on which they were deported from the US. Each one of them is mature enough to know that they were taking considerable risk and that they were actually committing a grave offence by trying to enter the US illegally.”
Sidhu added that instead of blaming US President Donald Trump, those deported should thank their stars that their agent didn’t push them across to Mexico by the land border.
UNPOPULAR OPINION:
I have zero sympathy for our young citizens who are making noises about undue restraint on the military flight back to India on which they were deported from USA 🇺🇸.
Each one of them is mature enough to know that they were taking considerable risk and that…
— KBS Sidhu, ex-IAS 🇮🇳 (@kbssidhu1961) February 7, 2025
Punjab’s fact-finding panel comprises Parveen Sinha, ADGP NRI, who would head it, Shive Verma, ADGP/Internal Security, Dr S. Boopathi, IGP/Provisioning, and Satinder Singh, DIG Border Range.
“Fact-finding committee/special investigation team has been directed to take appropriate action as per law and facts and take action against any person found involved in committing illegalities and indulging in illegal migration/human trafficking,” Punjab Police Director General of Police posted on X Friday.
On social media, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann criticised the US for its treatment of the deported Indians and also the Haryana government. “Instead of standing by the deported persons, Modi’s government in Haryana sent vehicles (police vans) used to ferry criminals (to airport),” he wrote on X.
Also Read: Immigration agents under lens amid US deportations. Punjab forms SIT, Haryana lodges FIRs
Support for returnees
Meanwhile, there is also a section of politicians in Punjab that has come out in open support of the deported youth.
Punjab NRI affairs minister and senior AAP leader Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who had gone to receive the deported at the airport, told media persons Thursday that there was no doubt they had been duped by unscrupulous agents.
“Those deported are not criminals. In fact they are victims of a crime. I have talked to many of them and they told us how they had spent lakhs to go to the US when they were told by the agents that their entry would be completely legal,” he said.
ਸਾਨੂੰ ਧੋਖੇਬਾਜ਼ ਇਮੀਗ੍ਰੇਸ਼ਨ ਏਜੰਟਾਂ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਿਕਾਰ ਹੋਏ ਭਾਰਤੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਖੜੇ ਹੋਣਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ । ਉਹ ਅਪਰਾਧੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਸਗੋਂ ਅਪਰਾਧ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਿਕਾਰ ਹਨ। ਰੋਜ਼ੀ-ਰੋਟੀ ਕਮਾਉਣ ਲਈ ਲੱਖਾਂ ਰੁਪਏ ਦਾ ਕਰਜ਼ਾ ਚੁੱਕ ਕੇ ਅਮਰੀਕਾ ਗਏ ਸਨ । ਹੁਣ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਕੋਲ ਨਾ ਤਾਂ ਇੱਜ਼ਤ ਬਚੀ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਨਾ ਹੀ ਪੈਸਾ।
हमें फ्रॉड इमिग्रेशन एजेंटों के शिकार हुए… pic.twitter.com/MHPK9z2tWa
— Kuldeep Dhaliwal (@KuldeepSinghAAP) February 6, 2025
Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa has asked the AAP-led Punjab government to prepare a rehabilitation programme for the returnees.
“They are our sons and daughters, and we must accept them. Without an appropriate rehabilitation programme, they may plunge into despair and depression or rather resort to drug addiction and crime… employment as per their qualification and financial assistance should be given to them,” he said on X.
Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira also demanded jobs from the Bhagwant Mann government for these youth.
Former president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal wrote on X that the parents of these migrants should be compensated.
“It is also highly condemnable that Punjab chief minister @BhagwantMann has not launched any crackdown on notorious travel agents who have played with the lives of our enterprising Punjabis by transporting them to the US illegally,” he said.
After the 30 Punjabi’s among the 104 unauthorised Indian immigrants were deported by the Trump administration in the US, I strongly advocate that the @AAPPunjab govt must prepare a rehabilitation programme for them.
They are our sons and daughters, and we must accept them.…— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) February 5, 2025
Punjab BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal said in a video message that all those who had returned should not be seen in the context of individual states but were all Indians. “We should try to understand their plight and the Punjab government should take strict action against the illegal immigration agents,” he said.
Sidhu, however, stated that he was against the government giving jobs to these persons on a preferential basis at the expense of hard-working youth who had chosen to study and work in India. “It would not only be unconstitutional, but also unethical and immoral,” he wrote on X.
“As for the opposition leaders, trying to pin the Modi government for failing to impress upon the US to enforce basic human rights, they would do equally well to look at how the local police in their home states treat SCs/STs and women while investigating allegations of petty offences purportedly committed by them,” he added.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said in an interview to The Indian Express that the US was well within its rights to deport illegal immigrants but they should not have been brought back in a military plane or in handcuffs.
In a video put out on social media, gangster-turned-social activist Lakha Sidhana said there was no dearth of jobs and opportunities in Punjab for those who wanted to work hard.
“Hundreds of people who come from UP and Bihar to Punjab have worked hard and bought lands and built houses. And we are not able to work hard even on the lands which we have inherited. The youth of Punjab should not leave this state. In other countries, they are subjected to hate crimes and discrimination. The lakhs we spend in going abroad could have been utilised to start a small business or to work here,” he said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: I risked everything for America—confinement, torture: Robin Handa returns to Haryana
