Could have been avoided: India on deportation of illegal immigrants in shackles

The remarks of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri came amid uproar over the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants by the US in handcuffs during their 40-hour flight onboard a military aircraft.

New Delhi: The government has conveyed to President Donald Trump’s administration its concerns over the ‘mistreatment’ of illegal immigrants being deported from the United States to India, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Friday, adding that New Delhi would continue to take up the issue with Washington DC.

 “We do make our concerns known to the United States that this kind of treatment can perhaps be avoided…We will continue to take up any instances of mistreatment that come to our attention,” Misri said in New Delhi – a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated in both Houses of Parliament that placing the deportees under restraints was a part of the standard operating procedure Washington DC had been following since 2012.

The foreign secretary was briefing journalists about the prime minister’s “official working visit” to Washington DC from February 12 to 14 for a meeting with the 47^th president of the US.

The allegedly inhumane way the Trump Administration sent back 104 illegal migrants onboard a US military aircraft, which departed from Texas early on Tuesday and landed in Amritsar in the afternoon on Wednesday, triggered uproar in India on Thursday.

The deportees alleged that they were made to travel onboard the military aircraft for over 40 hours with hands manacled and legs shackled. They had been unrestrained only during toilet breaks, which required long waits in the queue as they had access to only one of the lavatories on the aircraft.

“On the issue of mistreatment, it is a valid issue to raise, and we continue to emphasise to US authorities that there should be no mistreatment of deportees,” Misri said on Friday.

Washington had informed New Delhi that the altogether 487 presumed to be citizens of India had received the final orders for removal from the US. “We have sought details, and they have been provided to us with regard to 298 individuals. We have been very transparent on this issue with US counterparts,” the foreign secretary told journalists.

The media reports on the ordeal of the deportees triggered protests in Parliament on Thursday with members of the opposition parties criticising the government for not being able to ensure the dignity of the citizens of the country despite the bonhomie between Modi and Trump.

Jaishankar, however, sought to play down the issue while making statements in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. He pointed out that the Standard Operating Procedure that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities of the US government had been following since 2012 for sending back illegal migrants provided for placing deportees under restraints.

Misri on Friday said that the Ministry of External Affairs had no record of any protest by the Government of India against any mistreatment of deportees in 2012.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power in 2012. It was replaced by the government led by Bharatiya Janata Party two years later.