Videos of an Indian man being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by authorities at Newark Airport in New Jersey before being deported are doing the rounds on the Internet. Sharing the clips, an Indian-American entrepreneur, Kunal Jain, who witnessed the incident, described the treatment as deeply inhumane.
Jain, President, HealthBots AI, also urged the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, to step in and investigate the incident. He emphasised that the young man was visibly emotional and crying as he was restrained and escorted by officials.
“I witnessed a young Indian student being deported from Newark Airport last night – handcuffed, crying, treated like a criminal. He came chasing dreams, not causing harm. As an NRI, I felt helpless and heartbroken. This is a human tragedy,” Jain wrote on X.
One of the images shared by Jain shows the young man pinned to the floor, restrained by a police officer. Another photograph captures an officer wearing a cap marked “Port Authority Police”. In follow-up posts, Jain said the young Indian man appeared to be speaking in Haryanvi, a regional language from Haryana. He suggested that the incident may be part of a troubling pattern affecting Indian students arriving in the United States.
“These children get their visas and get on a flight in the morning. For some reason, they are unable to explain the reason for their visit to the immigration authorities and are sent back on the evening flight tied up like criminals. Every day 3–4 such cases are happening. There have been more such cases in the last few days,” he wrote.
Watch the videos here:
I witnessed a young Indian student being deported from Newark Airport last night— handcuffed, crying, treated like a criminal. He came chasing dreams, not causing harm. As an NRI, I felt helpless and heartbroken. This is a human tragedy. @IndianEmbassyUS #immigrationraids pic.twitter.com/0cINhd0xU1
— Kunal Jain (@SONOFINDIA) June 8, 2025
The incident has triggered a wave of concern among the Indian diaspora, with a user sharing, “He was questioned for 5-6 hours also an Indian chap called in to converse but he failed to give correct answers, yes he shouldn’t be treated in such manner rather escorting him and calling embassy or consular but seems they’ve different set of rules.”
Another user commented, “So many deaths of young Indian students are happening in USA while system there have been horribly apathetic.”
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