Shackled And Deported - The Immigrant Question

Clever politicians manage to turn people's anger and frustrations towards the ‘other’. And thereby direct the growing resentment away from their own acts of omission and commission towards the targeted people who suddenly find themselves in the spotlights of attack and humiliation. One such community is that of migrants, who in recent years particularly find that they too have become fodder for unscrupulous leaders to exploit for their own ends.

US President Donald Trump has wasted no time in targeting this group who he has spoken harsh words about, as he feels this gives him the space amongst his largely ignorant supporters who believe his “I will make America great again” war cry. They see his declaration to deport illegal migrants to countries of origin, and the threat of tariffs across the world as a sign of strong leadership; of a macho-ism that they want to believe will deliver livelihood and empowerment. There is little understanding of what such measures will deliver in the long run, more a voyeuristic desire for theatrics as military planes fly out with reportedly illegal migrants handcuffed and shackled like criminals.

What they do not see in this move, is the complete violation of human dignity by a country that has not only been unable to use its laws and law enforcement agencies to check illegal migration, but also used their services as farm labour, domestic help, and other such menial chores reserved for the browns and the blacks of the world. The issue of migration is a tragic story of the exploitation of the poor, with governments and their agencies complicit across the world. Including the richer nations which turn a blind eye to the migration, happy to keep them afloat as chattels who accept poor wages and hard work as a return for their placement in the promised land. Walls across borders are hence not a declaration of strength but an admission of defeat.

Colombia perhaps has set an example in the current chaos with US military planes carrying shackled migrants to the countries of origin. First, the government of this small country refused to accept such a flight and refused to let it land. When Trump reacted by announcing drastic tariffs that would break the back of Columbia’s economy, the government negotiated an agreement whereby it is sending its own military planes to bring back the migrants. This, as the Colombian government noted, would at least give the deportees some dignity and respect.

India of course, agreed to the deportation of 18,000 illegal migrants from the US —at least so media reports claimed. The first flight landed with 104 deportees handcuffed and shackled through the journey. This seems to have become a closely guarded secret for the government, not the fact of deportation but the humiliating manner of return.Those on the flight, such as 36 year old Jaspal Singh told reporters they were in chains through the entire long flight, and were unshackled only when they landed in Amritsar. Another deportee, 40 year old Harwainder Singh said that they were in handcuffs and shackles for 40 hours. On the flight they were not even able to eat as the security staff on board refused to remove the handcuffs. They were shoved into the toilets after repeated requests, all chains on. Perhaps big India can follow small Columbia’s example and send planes to bring back our immigrants with some level of dignity intact.

And even as there was initial silence here the US Border Patrol Chief Micheal W.Banks released a short video of the Indians being deported with chains on their feet. His message was equally condemnable wherein he described the immigrants as “aliens” with the message “if you cross illegally, you will be removed.” This perhaps around the time - shortly after— Minister of External Affairs S.Jaishankar told a protesting Opposition in Parliament that this was normal diplomacy and gave figures of the few hundreds detected and sent back every year. He evaded questions about the handcuffs and chains; and even while trying to justify the deportation of Indians in this heinous manner was unable to give any convincing answers about the fact that this was a first even in US history as even Banks admitted.

The trajectory of our immigrants is known to all. As reporters we had written about it in detail decades ago. How unscrupulous touts operating under the eye of the district government machinery play into the aspirations of the rural youth, how America is sold as the ‘promised land’ for making money and leading a fulfilling life, how money in lakhs is extorted, how passports are issued (these are often the only real documents in an entirely fake operation), how fake visas are stamped with the immigrants then either being stopped at home, or becoming part of the international racket. That gets them into the US but without legal documents. And hence subject to further exploitation. Bribes of course are paid at every step of the way.

The Americans claim that they have little idea about all this. But then the one question that no one seems to be asking, or at least that the present Trump administration has given no information on is – how has it been so easy for the government to round up illegal immigrants within days of the new President taking power? Lakhs have been conjured up without much effort, and are being segregated, and deported according to origin. How could so many be living and working in the security conscious US without being detected? This, as any person with common sense knows, can only be when governments turn a blind eye to their presence, in the interests of cheap labour, but perhaps a touch of humanity. Of course given the events of the last few days the last is clearly not a concern.

Migration is a sad truth of victimisation, deep poverty and neglect. People move when they cannot make ends meet, in search of better pastures where they can keep their families alive. Most live in dismal conditions and count on the decency and compassion of governments to survive. Governments have become increasingly hostile, and apart from action within, also encourage racism and communalism to turn the people against the migrants. Racism of course is not confined to the illegal migrants but extends to cover all outsiders, as does communalism for that matter. It is thus important not to discard a human approach and for governments across the globe to sit down and work on a migration policy (like climate change although it is being increasingly flouted) that is based on compassion, dignity and respect for the human being along with the rule and the law. It cannot be left to individual nations to handcuff and shackle and deport migrants at will without serious consequences in the long run.