More US flights with illegal migrants to land in Punjab
What's the story
Two special flights from the United States, bringing back Indian nationals illegally residing in America, will land in Amritsar, Punjab this weekend.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation has been informed by the Ministry of External Affairs about the arrivals.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to US President Donald Trump, and assured him India is ready to take back its verified citizens living unlawfully in the US.
Flight schedule
Deportation flights and passenger details
The first flight, which will carry 119 deportees, is scheduled to land on February 15 at 10:05pm, per India Today.
The passengers include 67 from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, and 19 from other states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
The second flight is likely to reach Amritsar on the night of February 16.
Both airport authorities and local administration have made preparations for their arrival.
Deportation data
Previous and upcoming deportations of illegal Indian immigrants
Earlier this month, as part of President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar.
Following that deportation, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced that US authorities have identified an additional 487 illegal Indian migrants for deportation.
Since 2009, 15,668 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported from the US, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.
Legal action
Punjab Police intensifies action against fraudulent travel agents
In related news, the Punjab Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) has filed two more FIRs against travel agents accused of duping people with false promises of US entry. With this, the number of cases has reached 10.
The latest FIRs involve six agents from Hoshiarpur and Tarn Taran.
The SIT, led by ADGP (NRI affairs) Praveen Sinha revealed that the deportees first traveled legally to countries such as Dubai, Spain, Italy, etc., before entering the US via Panama and Mexico.