New Delhi: Twelve Indian nationals, who were deported to Panama by the US, returned to India from the Latin American nation on Sunday evening, officials said.
The deportees arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, marking the first batch of Indians returning from Panama following their deportation by the US.
The 12 Indians are learnt to be part of 299 undocumented migrants deported to Panama by the US a few days back.
The Trump administration has begun a mass deportation programme of foreign nationals living illegally in the US.
Over 300 Indians have already been deported to India by the US in three different flights this month.
India has been maintaining that it will take back all Indians who have either overstayed in the US or are there without documentation after their nationality is verified.
“It is the obligation of all nations to take back their nationals, if they are found to be living illegally abroad,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Parliament on February 6.
“This is naturally subject to an unambiguous verification of their nationality. This is not a policy applicable to any specific country, nor indeed one only practised by India. It is a general accepted principle in international relations,” he had said.with agency inputs