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| - An image showing several people handcuffed and chained while being seated inside a fighter jet is going viral online to claim that these are Indians who are being deported from the United States.
This comes after US President Donald Trump declared to deport illegal immigrants.
A US military jet, C-17 aircraft, carried 205 Indian nationals departed from San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday, 4 February.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on Google and this led us to a report shared by The Independent on 30 January.
The report talks about illegal immigrants being deported to Guatemala, Mexico and it also carries the viral image.
The report did not mention anything about Indians.
Taking a cue, we checked AP's official website for this image and found one shared on 31 January 2025.
The caption read, "Migrants wearing face masks and shackles on their hands and feet sit on a military aircraft at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Tx., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, awaiting their deportation to Guatemala. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)".
It did not mention anything about Indians.
Were Indians handcuffed?: After the aircraft carrying deported Indians landed in Amritsar, several people aboard the craft stated that they had been handcuffed while being deported, as reported by several news organisations.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed the same in his statement in parliament on 6 February, stating that it was part of standard procedure which has been followed since 2012.
"Sir, deportations by the US are organised and executed by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities. The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft used by ICE, that is effective from 2012... provides for the use of restraints. However, we have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained."EAM S Jaishankar on ICE deporting Indians
Conclusion: While Indian nationals were also deported in restraints, this image does not show Indians, but shows Mexicans being deported from USA to Guatemala.
(NOTE: This report was edited on 6 February to include EAM S Jaishankar's statement about Indian deportees being restrained, a day after the fact-check was first published.)
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