It Was the Longest Deportation Flight Yet

For the first time, the US has used a military plane to deport Indian nationals. A US military plane arrived in Punjab, India, on Wednesday, carrying more than 100 deportees on the longest such deportation flight yet of the current Trump administration, per the New York Times. Having left San Antonio, Texas, the deportees' travel time had been projected to be at least 24 hours, per Reuters. There were more than 700,000 undocumented Indian immigrants living in the US as of 2022, according to the Pew Research Center—more than from any country excepting Mexico and El Salvador. But the more than 1,000 Indians who were deported last year were sent back on commercial flights, reports the Times.

This time, an Air Force C-17 plane carried 104 Indians to the northern city of Amritsar, landing around 3:30am EST Wednesday, according to the Defense Department. India has said it's open to the idea of accepting US deportees who are verified as Indian nationals, though some lawmakers are urging President Trump to reconsider his deportation stance "on humanitarian grounds." "What is their crime?" said the "greatly disheartened" Punjab state minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, per the Times. "They may have gone illegally, but it was for their livelihoods." Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that deportation flights are an effective way to fight illegal immigration, "which is destructive and destabilizing." (More deportation stories.)