Second military plane from US with 119 illegal immigrants to reach Amritsar on Feb 15

Washington: A military flight will deport 119 individuals, who were in the US illegally and will reach Amritsar in India on Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted the need to fight against the “ecosystem” of human trafficking.

Earlier this month, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from various states landed in Amritsar, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Trump government as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.

Sources told PTI on Friday here that one military flight will be reaching Amritsar on February 15 with 119 people.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Modi, during a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump here, asserted the need to fight against the “ecosystem” of human trafficking that lures people from ordinary families with big dreams and promises and are brought to other countries as illegal immigrants.

“This is not a question about India only but is a global issue,” Modi said in response to a question by PTI on the issue of illegal immigration during the joint press conference with Trump in the White House.

He said, “We are of the opinion that anybody who enters and lives in another country illegally, they have absolutely no legal right or authority to live in that country.”

Modi added that as far as India and the US are concerned, “we have always said that those who are verified Indian citizens and who are living in the US illegally, India is prepared to take them back.”

Later, in response to a question by PTI on the deportation of illegal immigrants from the US and whether the issue of the manner in which they were brought back to India in the first military aircraft and shackled was raised during Modi's meeting with Trump, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said “yes, it (issue of illegal immigration) did figure during the discussions today.” Misri added that Modi did emphasise during the discussions that the return of illegal immigrants is not the end of the story.

"There is an ecosystem that thrives on this racket and that promotes and enables this racket, and it is the responsibility of both countries to do something about this,” he added.

Modi also sought the cooperation of the US in finding out more details about these rackets, and if need be through institutional cooperation between the law enforcement authorities and intelligence organisations of the two countries to actually try and do something about these ecosystems that enable this particular phenomenon, Misri said.