Fact check: Misinformation spread online as Indians deported

In gearing up its deportation plans, the Trump administration sent undocumented Indians home early Tuesday aboard a C-17 military plane.

India is the farthest destination so far for deportation flights in the Trump administration's latest drive against illegal migration. 

It is the first time the Trump administration has arranged a military plane to deport Indians. 

The plane carrying 104 deported Indian migrants arrived in Amritsar, a northern Indian city in the state of Punjab on February 5, 2025. These Indians had illegally entered the United States over the years and came from different Indian states.

Deportation is a sensitive topic in India, and the event has led to a surge in misinformation online. DW Fact check analyzed some of the viral claims.

Handcuffed and shackled Indians deported on a plane?

Claim: "This is the scene of the flight of migrant Indians who have been deported from the "land of free". They are handcuffed and have chains in their legs.  …" wrotea Facebook user (archived here), posting a picture of handcuffed people sitting in a plane.

DW Fact check: False

The picture does not show Indian migrants deported from the US. It is an Associated Press image from January 30 (archived here), depicting people waiting in El Paso, Texas, to be deported to Guatemala. They are, indeed, wearing face masks and have shackles on their hands and feet but the image is unrelated to the newly deported Indians.

This is not the only misleading image of Indians being deported by the US. Another misleading post (archived here) in Hindi on Facebook claims: "An American C-17 plane has departed with such people on board. This flight will arrive in India within the next 24 hours."

This is incorrect. The picture is also older, and from January 23, when the first deportation flight departed from Tucson International Airport to Guatemala. The imagewas provided by the US Air Force and circulated by various picture agencies such as Picture Alliance.

Early Thursday, the head of the US Border Patrol, Chief Michael W. Banks, posted a video on X stating, “USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport.” People in the video boarding the plane were seen handcuffed and shackled at their feet.

Indian media reported on the ‘uncomfortable’ journey of those onboard, which reportedly lasted 40 hours. On Thursday, news agencies released pictures of some of the passengers after they arrived in India.

Exaggerated number of deportations shared online

Claim: This picture circulating on social media (archived here) claims to show Indians who have been deported from the US recently. A user posted it on X, formerly Twitter and wrote: "The first batch of illegal Indian immigrants has been deported from the USA by a C-17 Globemaster III military aircraft." It further added, "Their American Dream is ended now."

DW Fact check: False 

The picture is old and not related to the recent deportation of Indians by the Trump administration. It was taken in late December 2023 in Mumbai, when hundreds of Indians were sent back from Paris after being suspected of human trafficking. They were flying on a chartered flight to Nicaragua, a Latin American country.

But there are not only fake images circulating online about the deportation of Indians from the US. The number of Indians being deported is causing discussion and confusion and leading to false information.

A viral post on X claims that the US and Canada have approved a plan to deport 1.2 million illegal Indian immigrants (archived here). However, this number is incorrect.

India and the US have been negotiating deportations for a long time. Last year, the US identified nearly 18,000 undocumented Indian migrants to be sent back home, according to an exclusive Bloomberg report.

More than 1,100 Indians attempting to enter the US illegally were repatriated between 2023 and 2024. This occurred during President Joe Biden's tenure before Trump took office. There is no official figure for undocumented Indians living in the US, but a Pew Research Center reportestimates the number to be over 725,000, making them the third-largest group of undocumented migrants after Mexicans and Salvadorans.

Video of Indians boarding a plane?

Claim: A videoposted on Instagram claims that Indian deportees were in pain while boarding the plane. The post in Hindi states: "Masks on their faces, hands and feet in shackles. Indians were deported mercilessly from the US."

DW Fact check: False

The video does not show Indians being deported but again one of the first deportation flights from mid-January. The footage originates from a videoreleased by the US Department of Defense (DoD) on January 27. The US Customs and Border Protection agents were seen guiding chained and handcuffed individuals onto a military aircraft in footage dated January 23, according to the DoD. The handout did not specify the destination of this flight. 

Deporting illegal immigrants from the US was a key promise in Trump's election campaign. However, the Indian government has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Trump administration to avoid a trade conflict, according to Bloomberg.

India also reportedly wants to protect its legal immigrants in the US. Nearly five million people of Indian originlive in the country and over five million Indians already have a nonimmigrant visa to visit the US. Additionally, Indian nationals receive two-thirds of the H-1B visas issued annually, according to official figures.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar a day after Trump's inauguration and raised concerns about irregular migration, according to a press release by the US Department of State.

India, in turn, showed its willingness to take back the undocumented migrants. "We have always taken the view that if there are any of our citizens who are not here legally if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been, you know, open to legitimate return to India," Jaishankar later stated.

This article was first published on February 5, 2025, and was updated on February 6, 2025, to include details of the journey of the Indian deportees.

Edited by: Rachel Baig