Fact Check: Photos of illegal Indian migrants deported from US? Know the truth here

Hyderabad: After assuming office for a second term, Donald Trump has intensified deportation efforts against illegal migrants in the USA. A US military C-17 transport aircraft carrying several Indians deported for illegal immigration landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, marking the first such deportation to India under Trump’s renewed immigration crackdown. The aircraft took off from San Antonio, Texas, and landed at Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport in Punjab’s Amritsar.

Amid these developments, some photos are being shared on social media, claiming to show Indian illegal migrants deported from the USA.

Image 1: A user on X shared this photo captioning, “Hands chained, @US starts deporting Indians. Welcome @realDonaldTrump @POTUS45 Next time Trump Government…!” (Archive)

The photo shows some men walking with their hands held behind their backs as they appear to be handcuffed.

Fact Check: NewsMeter found the claim to be false. A reverse image search led to a video shared by @viralnewsnyc, a verified X user, on January 30, 2025, which is prior to the deportation of Indian illegal migrants from the USA on February 3, 2025. The video was shared with the caption, “Border patrol walking them right back into Mexico.”

The viral photo matches a frame from this video. Even the text on the video states, “ICE and Border Patrol are PERP WALKING illegals straight back into Mexico.”

Therefore, we conclude that the image is unrelated to Indian illegal migrants deported from the USA.

Image 2: An Instagram user shared the second photo captioning, “Encore, the great American clean-up begins! A C-17 military aircraft deporting 205 Indian migrants.” (Archive)

In the image, many people can be seen sitting inside a military aircraft wearing masks and their ankles chained.

Fact Check: NewsMeter found the claim to be false. A reverse image search of the photo led to an Instagram post by the Associated Press featuring the same image, uploaded on January 31, 2025.

The post description mentioned that a U.S. Air Force jet with migrants bound at their wrists and ankles departed Texas for Guatemala on Thursday, carrying 80 deportees. The report highlighted that this was another deportation flight reflecting the growing role of the armed forces in enforcing immigration laws.

It also stated that the flight from Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, was scheduled to take about seven hours—nearly twice as long as a direct route—because the military plane could not fly over Mexico, according to U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Orlando Marrero. The flight included eight children.

Therefore, we conclude that the image is unrelated to Indian illegal migrants deported from the USA.

Image 3: A user on X shared the third photo in which several men are handcuffed while boarding a military aircraft. The user captioned it, “Indians (mostly Gujaratis) deported from USA. This should be a matter of pride.” (Archive)

The text on the image reads, “US MILITARY AIRCRAFT DEPORTED 205 INDIAN NATIONALS FROM TEXAS AMID TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S STRICT IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT.”

Fact Check: NewsMeter found the claim to be false. A reverse image search of the photo led to a post on X by the official White House account featuring the same image, which was posted on January 24, 2025.

The post’s description stated, “Just as he promised, President Trump is sending a strong message to the world: those who enter the United States illegally will face serious consequences.”

Therefore, we conclude that the image is unrelated to Indian illegal migrants deported from the USA on Wednesday.

Final Verdict

All three images circulating on social media do not show Indian illegal migrants deported from the United States. Instead, they are taken out of context and falsely attributed to recent deportations from the USA to India.