Ensure Dignity Of Deportees

The United States has started deporting illegal aliens as part of the Donald Trump administration’s plan to execute the largest mass deportation campaign in that country’s history. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already identified 1.445 million immigrants for deportation. The illegals facing expulsion include 261,651 from Honduras, 253,413 from Guatemala, 252,044 from Mexico, 238,222 from El Salvador, 37,908 from China, 17,940 people from India and 1,365 people from Nepal. 

Just recently, the Trump administration showed that it aims to make good on its plan by deporting more than 100 Indian illegals on a US military aircraft, to begin with. As the flight originating in San Diego, California, landed at Amritsar in the state of Punjab after a harrowing, 43-hour flight, the fourth estate of the world’s most populous nation, which never has a dearth of issues to cover in an ocean of humanity, zoomed in. 

What it found was subhuman treatment of the immigrants, who were bound in shackles and chains and even deprived of food and water. In a way, the sufferings of the illegals brought back horrors associated with the 17th-18th century slave trade in which those tasked with ‘civilising the rest of the world’ would go a hunting in parts of the ‘dark continent’ for men and women slaves, cram them in ships in chains, sexually exploit women and girls and consign them to a life of farm slaves or even sell them like commodities, if they were ‘lucky enough’ to live. 

In a different milieu, millions of people from the Global South like Nepal and India choose to leave their countries every year as part of their perennial search for the land of milk and honey, given abject conditions at home, even as intellectuals continue to rack their brains over the reasons behind the perpetual mess these countries are in.   By the way, what of higher ideals like human rights and dignity that the global champions of democracy and rules-based order continue to es-pouse? These ideals are not for lesser mortals- or are they? On second thoughts, the world’s fifth largest economy with a GDP of $4.27 trillion could have deployed flights to bring back citizens with honour and dignity, but it did not—for reasons best known to itself.

For this very lapse, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government, including the no-nonsense Minister for External Affairs, S Jaishankar, has drawn fire, both in the Parliament and beyond. Indeed, the deportation could not have come at a worse time, as it happened days after the human tragedy that occurred during the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.  

Back to the home turf, the US plans to deport Nepalis as well. Has our government bothered to verify the identities of ille-gal Nepalis awaiting deportation? Does it plan to bring them home by operating special flights? If special flights are not on the cards, are our very competent government authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Embas-sy in the US, in constant communication with US authorities to ensure that these people get to return home as comfortably as possible by adhering to all applicable flight safety protocols?