No IAF Or Chartered Plane Employed For Repatriation Of Indian Immigrants Since 2020: Govt | Mobility Information
New Delhi: The Ministry of Exterior Affairs has not employed any IAF, chartered or business civilian plane for Indian immigrants’ repatriation from any nation since 2020, the federal government knowledgeable Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for Exterior Affairs Pabitra Margherita stated this in a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha by TMC MP Saket Gokhale.
The MEA was requested for the main points of all cases when the ministry used Indian Air Pressure plane or chartered or business civilian plane for the repatriation of Indian immigrants being deported from different international locations between 2020 until date. It additionally requested the main points of nations which have used army plane for deporting Indian immigrants since 2020.
“The Ministry of Exterior Affairs has not employed any Indian Air Pressure or Chartered/Business Civilian plane for the needs of repatriation of Indian immigrants being deported from any nation since 2020. Nonetheless, in just a few distinctive circumstances, Indian immigrants going through deportation had been assisted to return dwelling on means-tested foundation via buy of tickets on business flights,” Margherita stated.
A complete 388 Indian nationals have been deported from the US since January 2025, the federal government knowledgeable Parliament on March 21. They had been illegally residing within the US and had been deported in army plane. Of those, 333 had been deported instantly from the US on three separate army flights in February.
Additionally, the US deported 55 Indian nationals via Panama in business flights, Minister of State for Exterior Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh had stated in a written response in Lok Sabha. From 2009 to 2024, a complete of 15,564 Indian nationals have been deported by the US to India in chartered or business plane, the minister stated.
In response to a separate question from AAP MP Harbhajan Singh, MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh on Thursday stated the federal government has registered its issues with the US authorities relating to the necessity to accommodate non secular sensitivities and meals preferences of Indian nationals who’re being deported.
“In response, the US authorities have conveyed that deportees on the three chartered flights that arrived on fifth, fifteenth & sixteenth February 2025 respectively weren’t instructed to take away any non secular head coverings and that the deportees didn’t request any non secular lodging throughout the flights, other than requesting for vegetarian meals. The US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) additionally conveyed that a number of the detainees arrived on the US border with out turbans,” he stated.
The MEA stays engaged with the US facet to make sure humane remedy of deportees throughout such operations, the minister stated. In response to a separate query, he stated starting January 20, 2025, the US deported a complete of 55 Indian nationals who arrived in New Delhi by way of Panama.
These people had been deported to Panama by the US below a bilateral association.
“Panama in flip facilitated the deportation of those people to New Delhi on business flights with the help of the Worldwide Organisation of Migration (IOM). No Indian nationwide has been deported by the US to some other nation moreover Panama. The Ministry of Exterior Affairs stays engaged with the US in making certain the protected return of all people who’ve been verified as Indian nationals,” he added.
