RAWALPINDI: As many as 52 Pakistani immigrants — majority of whom were “overstaying” — deported by the US authorities arrived at Islamabad International Airport by a special flight amid tight security on Wednesday.

According to immigration sources, 53 Pakistanis were scheduled to be deported, but 52 arrived as one was not feeling well and dropped at the US airport.

US security officials were guarding the Pakistani deportees. Soon after landing at the airport, they asked the Pakistani authorities to take custody of the deportees who had been arrested by the US police in connection with petty crimes.

A senior official of the Federal Investigation Agency told Dawn that the deportees were allowed to go after verification of their travel documents. The official parried a question about the fate of those involved in petty crimes and deported by the United States.

Meanwhile, nine Pakistani illegal immigrants deported by the Greece authorities were taken into custody after their arrival at Islamabad International Airport by a separate flight and shifted to FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Cell. The FIA official said the deportees were kept at the cell’s jail for further legal proceeding as they had gone to Europe through land route and were later caught by the Greek authorities. He said that since the nine deportees belonged to Gujrat district, they would be shifted to FIA Gujranwala for further legal proceeding.

The American authorities had recently launched a crackdown on the foreigners who stayed in the United States even after the expiry of their visas. The 52 Pakistanis were among those who overstayed in the US.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019