Posts share visuals from earlier US deportation flights, not migrants flown back to India

Published on February 11, 2025 at 08:02
4 min read
By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India

Reports that Indian migrants deported from the United States in February 2025 were shackled throughout their flight sparked outrage in the South Asian nation, but a video and photo of cuffed individuals shared on social media were taken during earlier deportation flights. The video and photo were released by the US Department of Defense, which said they showed deportation flights that took off on January 23.

"The process of eviction of Indians settled illegally in America has started," read the Hindi-language caption to a video and photo shared on X on February 5, 2025.

The video shows cuffed and shackled individuals being led onto a plane while under guard, and the photo shows scores of people restrained on what appears to be a military aircraft.

The post surfaced after 104 Indian nationals who had entered the United States illegally were deported and flown to the northern Indian city of Amritsar aboard a US Air Force cargo plane (archived link).

US President Donald Trump was elected on a promise to carry out the biggest deportation "in the history of America", and while most of the migrants being targeted for expulsion come from Latin America, some are also being sent back much further across the globe.

Data from flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows that the deportation flight -- which took more than 43 hours -- departed from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, at around 1330 GMT on February 3.

Screenshot of the false X post, captured on February 10, 2025

The Chief of the US Border Patrol Michael W. Banks posted that the return of "illegal aliens to India" marked "the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport" (archived link). Attached to his X post was a video showing a shuffling line of shackled migrants boarding a military aircraft.

The issue sparked outrage in India, with opposition lawmakers saying the manner in which migrants were treated was "inhuman" (archived link).

India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said New Delhi was "engaging the US government to ensure that the returning deportees are not mistreated in any manner during the flight" (archived link).

Posts claiming the video and photo showed Indian nationals on the deportation flight were also shared on Facebook and X.

Misrepresented visuals

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the clip led a longer video taken on January 23 that was posted on the website of the US Department of Defense (archived link).

Its caption says it shows a deportation flight at Fort Bliss, Texas, but did not indicate the nationalities of the individuals or where the flight is headed.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the footage posted by the US Department of Defense (right)

The picture circulating online was also released by Department of Defense, which said it shows a deportation flight that took off from Arizona state on January 23.

It was distributed by AFP and can be viewed in the agency's archives.

Its caption read in part: "This image released by the Department of Defense shows undocumented migrants awaiting takeoff for a removal flight at the Tucson International Airport, Arizona, January 23, 2025."

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared photo (left) and the photo distributed by AFP (right)

Air and Space Forces magazine, which covers US defence and air operations, quoted defence officials as saying the military aircraft that took off from Fort Bliss, Texas and Tuscon, Arizona on January 23 were headed to Guatemala (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked other misrepresented and inauthentic images linked to Trump administration's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.

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