At least 104 Indian citizens were deported from the United States Tuesday night on a military aircraft, according to officials from India’s Punjab state, as US President Donald Trump makes stemming migration a top priority.

Indian airport officials say a U.S. military plane carrying 104 deported Indian migrants has arrived in a northern Indian city, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by t

The recent deportation of 104 Indian immigrants by the US likely cost around $1 million, as military flights are more expensive than civilian options.

But he noted the “process of deportation is not a new one”, and that the United States had expelled more than 15,000 Indians since 2009, almost half of them between 2019-2024.