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On Feb. 19, the United States White House posted a 41 second video showing deportees being put in shackles as they are herded into an airplane for deportation operations as part of the Donald Trump administration efforts to remove illegal immigrants (“illegal aliens” as they are known there) from US territory. The video did not show the faces of the deportees or the US officials but the jackets the latter wore clearly shows them to be from ERO, which is short for Enforcement & Removal Operations of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The video was to achieve nothing but mock, embarrass, and humiliate not only the deportees, many of whom are from India, but also their nations and their people as a whole.
It is important for all nations to whom the deportees are being returned to not allow the United States to get away with normalising this conduct, and to let the US know that deportation is fine but mistreating human beings is not
The video was shockingly titled: “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight”, and it has over a 100 million views on the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, called ‘X’. ASMR in the video refers to the tingling sound of steel chains as they are laid out on the tarmac, as prisoners step forward and are shackled one by one. ASMR, which is short for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, is a sense of satisfaction and pleasant tingling (“tingles”) felt down the spine, triggered by certain sounds in some people, like the crushing of tissue paper or popping of bubble wrap. The sound of steel shackles being laid out is the tingle they love. Musk retweeted the video with the words: “Haha Wow”, with images of a medal and an emoji of a green-skinned, pointy-eared goblin.
As a nation that is the biggest, strongest and the largest economy among those being targeted for deportation, India must make this protest heard
The dehumanisation of deportees is not just in the way they are treated. There is a story of “aliens” being deep wired into the head of Americans, with multiple layers at play, like white supremacy, the criminalisation of poverty and/or the normalisation of abuse. There has to be something rotten in the head for an official account of the US President to issue such a video and for his most-trusted lieutenant to laugh as he retweets it.
It is important for all nations to whom the deportees are being returned to not allow the United States to get away with normalising this conduct, and to let the US know that deportation is fine but mistreating human beings is not. Most of the deportees are from poorer sections of society looking for a livelihood, taking jobs that go abegging but for the availability of these willing workers. Treating them in this manner is behaviour that is closer to a fascist regime that sees other human beings as lesser than human.
Colombia, Brazil and Mexico have brought into sharp focus the mistreatment of deportees returned to their countries...Colombia sent planes to get back deportees and Petro even offered the presidential plane to return his people with dignity
As a nation that is the biggest, strongest and the largest economy among those being targeted for deportation, India must make this protest heard. In this, India has clearly, loudly, miserably failed. India even appears to justify the actions of the US. Was it not India’s external affairs minister Dr. S Jaishankar who said in a statement on Feb. 06: “The Standard Operating Procedure for deportation by aircraft used by ICE, that is effective from 2012, I repeat, 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.
Further, the needs of deportees during transit related to food or other necessities, including possible medical emergencies, are attended to. During toilet breaks, deportees are temporarily unrestrained if needed in that regard. This is applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as military aircraft. There has been no change, I repeat, no change, from past procedure for the flight undertaken by the US on 5 February 2025.”
“The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them”
Jaishankar seems to be saying that the present government is doing what earlier Indian governments have done – accepting what is standard US procedure for returning deportees. There is a difference this time though. Earlier operations were quiet, but now deportees are being returned in a widely publicised manner that mocks at and humiliates them and their countries. India’s quiet acceptance of this dehumanisation and mistreatment stands out.
Smaller nations have done better. They hold up as an example of a good response. Colombia, Brazil and Mexico have brought into sharp focus the mistreatment of deportees returned to their countries. The angry responses of the two South American nations and Mexico stand out like a shining example of a good and measured response. There are images of President Gustavo Petro addressing Colombian deportees on a commercial flight, He was the first to raise a voice when he refused to allow in a US military cargo flight bearing deportees.
“I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory,” Petro had said on the social media platform ‘X’. “The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.” Colombia sent planes to get back deportees and Petro even offered the presidential plane to return his people with dignity. This is in sharp contrast to the Indian response.
None of these countries are anywhere close to the might of the United States, yet they have made a point by saying: You cannot treat our people badly. We will not remain silent if you do so. India can learn some lessons here
Three batches of deportees have been returned to India, handcuffed and chained at the feet, aboard the stuffy confines of US military cargo aircraft. On February 23, the fourth and latest batch of Indian deportees arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport. Unlike the earlier groups who returned handcuffed and chained on US military cargo flights, this batch of 12 came back on a commercial flight from Panama.
They were unshackled and wearing electronic devices on their legs, but the deportees did recount torture and hardship at the Tijuana camp, on the US-Mexico border, where US officials made them sit on the floor for hours in extreme cold before leaving for Panama on a commercial flight. They noted that countries like Colombia, Brazil and Mexico had denounced this treatment of their people while India had remained silent adding to their problems.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that it was seeking answers from Washington regarding the “degrading treatment” of deported nationals. The Brazilian government said it would create a reception centre for deported migrants.
None of these countries are anywhere close to the might of the United States, yet they have made a point by saying: You cannot treat our people badly. We will not remain silent if you do so. India can learn some lessons here.