Viral Pic Shows Handcuffed Migrants Being Deported To Guatemala, Not India

An image showing several people handcuffed and chained while being seated inside a fighter jet is going viral online to claim that these are Indians who are being deported from the United States. This comes after US President Donald Trump declared to deport illegal immigrants.

A US military jet, C-17 aircraft, carried 205 Indian nationals departed from San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday, 4 February.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This image is recent; however, it shows illegal immigrants being deported to Guatemala and Mexico and is unrelated to India.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on Google and this led us to a report shared by The Independent on 30 January.

• The report talks about illegal immigrants being deported to Guatemala, Mexico and it also carries the viral image.
• The report did not mention anything about Indians.

• Taking a cue, we checked AP's official website for this image and found one shared on 31 January 2025.
• The caption read, "Migrants wearing face masks and shackles on their hands and feet sit on a military aircraft at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Tx., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, awaiting their deportation to Guatemala. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)".
• It did not mention anything about Indians.

Conclusion: An image showing Mexicans being deported from USA to Guatemala is being falsely shared as Indians handcuffed while being deported.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)