Over a hundred Indian nationals who had illegally entered the United States were sent back to India on a military transport aircraft, aligning with the US President Donald Trump’s policy to tighten borders and enforce a crackdown on “illegal” immigration.
Back home, the deportees have shared their harrowing stories of their journey through the dangerous ‘Donkey’ route to the US, explaining how their American Dream was shattered at the borders. They were handcuffed and put on the return flight, marking the end of their hopes for a new life in America.
The flight, a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, landed in Amritsar on Wednesday with 104 deportees aboard. The C-17 aircraft is a US military transport plane that is significantly more expensive than both first-class and chartered flights typically used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportations.
Costly deportation
The Trump administration started using military aircraft to highlight its strong stance on deporting undocumented migrants. However, while these flights may serve political goals, the cost is high — as much as $1 million for deportation to India, according to a report by news agency AFP.
Military flights are considerably more expensive than civilian ones. According to documents released by the US Air Mobility Command, the cost of operating a C-17 aircraft for transport is $28,562 per flight hour. In comparison, a charter flight used by ICE costs $8,577 per flight hour.
Different flight path
In addition to the higher operational costs, military flights also follow flight paths that differ from those of commercial aircraft. This is due to the security considerations involved in flying through the airspace of sovereign nations. Military flights also typically refuel at military bases rather than at commercial airports.
The flight, which took off from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego at around 1330 GMT on Monday, followed a complex route. It flew west to Hawaii, crossed the Pacific to the Luzon Strait near the Philippines, then flew between Indonesia and Malaysia. The plane took a significant detour south into the Indian Ocean, where it stopped at the US air base on the island of Diego Garcia before continuing north to India. After more than 43 hours in the air, the flight landed at Amritsar airport.
The total cost of the flight, factoring in the return journey to a US air base, is estimated to be over $1 million, or more than $10,000 per detainee. By contrast, a commercial one-way ticket from San Francisco to New Delhi typically costs around $500, or $4,000 for business class.
