San Antonio to Amritsar on 'costlier' C-17 aircraft

THE US used its military C-17 strategic lift aircraft to deport 205 Indian illegal immigrants, which left San Antonio, Texas for Amritsar.

- MAYANK SINGH @ New Delhi

The Trump administration has also used the military aircraft to deport illegal migrants to Guatemala, Peru and Honduras.

The deportation flight to India will be the farthest of the destinations to send the military aircraft. According to US officials, use of the military transport aircraft for deportation is costlier. The US officials, quoted by Reuters, pegged the estimated cost of this flight at least $4,675 per migrant.

This is even higher than that of a commercial charter flight operated by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the officials said.