India has “strongly” taken up with the United States the issue of deportation of 14 students, who were reportedly grilled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for several hours before being sent back to India.
“We have taken up deportation of Indian students admitted in SVU San Jose and NPU Freemont with US State Dept. Their response is awaited,” tweeted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday. Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup added that India has taken up the matter very strongly with the US in both Delhi and Washington.
According to reports, majority of the deported students are from Hyderabad, Delhi and Chhattisgarh and they were kept in cells and grilled by the FBI in San Francisco before being deported back to India.
Meanwhile, in another episode, on Sunday, Air India disallowed 19 students to board a flight to San Francisco citing a communication from US Customs and Border Protection agency. These students were headed for two universities — Silicon Valley, San Jose, California and North Western Polytechnic College, Fremont, CA.
The US agency had claimed that the two varsities these students had applied for admission were “under scrutiny”. However, these two universities denied being blacklisted and added that there has been increased security and questioning at the port of entry in view of the recent terrorist attacks in the country.
Air India, which had barred the students from boarding flight to San Francisco at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, said it had taken the action so the students are not “inconvenienced”. The airline has decided not to accept students headed to these universities till the time it got clearance from Air India’s US office for their travel.
“The students have been deported on the advice of the US Immigration Authority and Air India is duty-bound to follow their advice,” Swarup said.
An Air India statement said, “Air India received communication on December 19, 2015 from the US Customs and Border Protection agency that two universities — Silicon Valley, San Jose, California and North Western Polytechnic College, Fremont, CA — are under scrutiny and students who arrived into San Francisco were not allowed to enter the US and were deported back to India. So far, 14 students who travelled on Air India flights to San Francisco have been deported.”