104 Indian nationals deported back to India aboard a military c-17 aircraft say they were shackled and chained.

While President Trump has made deportations a cornerstone of his second term, it’s nothing new. Aljazeera reports last year immigration authorities sent 1368 Indians back to their native country. However, none reported mistreatment.

Simple requests for meals, medical care and trips to the bathroom were granted.

However, the family of Khusboo Patel, one of those deported this week to India, says she had a different experience.

“She was shackled in chains her whole journey, strictly restricted to her seat,” her brother Varun Patel said to Al Jazeera.

According to CNN, Indian lawmakers demonstrated outside of parliament to draw attention to the mistreatment. A group of young leaders from the opposition party burned an effigy of Trump.

Akashdeep Singh said authorities put him in chains before he left on the flight from the U.S. and never removed them during the entire trip.

“We requested the military officials to take it off to eat or go to the bathroom but they treated us horribly and without any regard whatsoever,” Singh said to CNN.

Video posted by U.S. Border Patrol chief Michael Banks confirms the deportees left the U.S. in shackles.

Lawmakers are urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the treatment of the deportees with President Trump during his scheduled meetings at the White House next week.

Many who come into the United States without the paperwork do so through what are known as “donkey routes.”

Their travels take them through multiple countries led by people who charge large amounts of money to take them on a dangerous journey. From India, Republic World reports they obtained tourist visas to such countries as Guyana and Bolivia. From there they are taken to Colombia and risk being attacked by wild animals or being raped or sexually abused, but eventually reaching Costa Rica or Nicaragua in 8-10 days.

It can take up to two years to reach the United States. They often enter the country via illegal tunnels.

Numbers from 2022 indicate India ranks third in the number of undocumented immigrants to the United States behind Mexico and El Salvador.

The “treatment with Indian nationals, dragging them like criminals like this is unprecedented,” Anil Trigunayat, a former Indian diplomat, said to Aljazeera.

AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.

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