According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ravi Kumar Singh, the apprehended illegal immigrants were "illegally" residing in Delhi without any valid documents.
Enforcement and Removals Operations Dallas Field Office acting Director Josh Johnson said, "Illegal aliens suspected or known to have ties to organisations that threaten public safety will not find refuge in the US."
Speaking to ANI, NCP-SCP leader Jitendra Ahwad said, "The way Indians are facing injustice in America and they are being tied and deported, there is a problem of visas, no Indian is safe in America. We (government) are not speaking a single word about America."
Highlighting the restrictions put on those who were deported to India, Bharti said that it reflected the "cruelty and inhumanity of the American regime".
"Of all the people deported so far, 67 are from Punjab, and the rest are from other states. By politicising this, the CM is degrading his own state. What action has he taken against those who sent these people through illegal immigration? They are taking huge sums of money and sending the
"What Bhagwat Mann said was merely to create headlines. It was all meaningless. The flight should have been landed in Delhi. Punjab is not getting defamed in any way. Punjab has a lot of NRIs, and they contribute to our economy in a big way. Punjabis are living a happy life abroad," Aujla
Speaking to ANI, Tewari asserted that the Central government could have landed the plane anywhere in the country but chose Amritsar to humiliate Punjab.
In a post on X, Chidambaram said, "All eyes will be on the US aircraft which will land today in Amritsar bringing back illegal immigrants. Will the deportees be handcuffed and their legs tied with ropes? It is a test for Indian diplomacy."
Notably, on February 5, a US Air Force plane carrying Indian citizens who "illegally immigrated" to the US arrived in Amritsar, Punjab. A total of 104 Indian nationals were on board the plane that landed in Amritsar.