12 Indians arrive in Delhi on commercial flights after being deported to Panama by the US

12 deported Indians return home from Panama

A group of 12 Indians deported from the United States via Panama arrived in India on Sunday, marking the first instance of deportation through a third country since President Donald Trump’s return to power with a stricter anti-immigration agenda. Unlike previous cases where deportees were flown on American military aircraft, this group traveled on commercial flights.

According to an airport official, the deportees arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 4:40 a.m. on Turkish Airlines flight 4651, which reached via Istanbul. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Verification of additional migrants underway

Indian authorities are currently verifying the nationality of 50 individuals presumed to be Indian nationals. They were part of a group of 299 migrants recently deported by the US to Panama. It is unclear whether the 12 individuals who arrived in India on Sunday were part of this larger group.

Panama and Costa Rica are collaborating with the US government to repatriate deported migrants as part of its broader immigration crackdown.

Four deportees from Punjab reach Amritsar

Among the 12 deportees, four individuals from Punjab arrived in Amritsar on Sunday after traveling from Delhi on a commercial flight. Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney confirmed that they hailed from Gurdaspur, Patiala, and Jalandhar districts.

The identified deportees are:

• Harpreet Singh and Maninder Dutt from Gurdaspur
• Jugraj Singh from Jalandhar
• Jatinder Singh from Nabha, Patiala district

Previous deportations on US military aircraft

Prior to this latest arrival, three batches of illegal Indian immigrants were deported from the US earlier in February, transported on US military aircraft that landed at Amritsar airport:

• February 5, 2025: The first batch of 104 deportees arrived, including 33 from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, and 30 from Punjab.
• February 15, 2025: A second batch of 117 deportees arrived, comprising 65 from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, and two each from Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir.
• February 16, 2025: A third aircraft carrying 112 deportees landed, bringing the total number of deportees returned from the US to 345.

Political reactions in Punjab

The arrival of US military aircraft carrying deported immigrants at Amritsar airport sparked criticism from political leaders in Punjab. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused the central government of attempting to defame Punjab by using Amritsar as a “deport center.” Mann emphasized that illegal immigration is a national issue and should not be portrayed as specific to Punjabis.

Many deportees from Punjab and other states had used risky and illegal routes, often referred to as “dunki routes,” to enter the United States after paying large sums of money to human traffickers.

For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.

The post 12 Indians arrive in Delhi on commercial flights after being deported to Panama by the US appeared first on PGurus.