An Indian student was handcuffed and detained by U.S. immigration authorities at Newark airport, and viral video shows him expressing frustration at being refused entry into the United States despite holding a valid visa. Customs and Border Protection detained him on suspicions of misusing his visa status or intending to enter illegally, and he was immediately deportation back to India.
This poor kids parent won’t know what’s happening to him. @IndianEmbassyUS @DrSJaishankar he was to be boarded last night in the same flight with me but he never got boarded. Someone needs to find out what’s going on with him at New Jersey authorities. I found him disoriented. pic.twitter.com/kpMiy9Trsp
— Kunal Jain (@SONOFINDIA) June 8, 2025
The U.S. Embassy in India responded strongly, reiterating that the United States will not tolerate any abuse of visa privileges or attempts at illegal entry, and reminded that holding a visa does not actually confer the right of entry into the United States. Travelers can still be denied entry on arrival.
Whatever your policies may be, you cannot treat a teenager like a hardened criminal or a terrorist. If the student in question violated any immigration rule, the appropriate response would have been arrest and deportation through due legal process—not to physically assault, pin… pic.twitter.com/YDruPVLRaQ
— Sanjay Kishore (@saintkishore) June 10, 2025
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, however, has sought consultation with U.S. authorities over the incident.
The Trump administration has treated foreign students with suspicion despite Trump’s social media post this morning that students coming here has “always been good with me” in the context of capitulating to Chinese demands on tariffs in exchange for access to rare earth minerals.
Customs and Border Protection detained him on suspicions of misusing his visa status or intending to enter illegally, and he was immediately deportation back to India.
Hello, this happens in most countries. There’s a show on one of the cable network that shows students being denied entry because they’re trying to game the system.
That’s what we expect ICE to do. Deny entry to those misusing the visa system.
I’m sure they had good reason to do so. Thank you CBP for keeping us safe.
I’ve read too many of these sympathetic stories to take them at face value. Remember the poor, innocent “Maryland dad” who was so unfairly deported? Yeah, he’s a gang banger who beat his gf and who was in the US illegally. And, he’s actually on his way back to face human trafficking charges. Why bring this up? Because it’s a great example of the media bias and BS. There was probably more going on with this story too – we have only heard the one side.
And, a visa still does not prevent you from being deported – from any nation.
I suspect there will be a herd of sociopaths cheering this action.
“Give me your tired, your poor” from the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, mere miles from Newark airport.
Yup, @Christian, sociopaths indeed. (Already, I expected nothing less from @George N Romey, @AngryFlier, and the others that will inevitably follow and pile-on.)
You’re absolutely correct: This doesn’t seem ‘right’ or ‘normal’… some y’all will gleefully attempt to ‘sane-wash’ what just seems like cruelty (and brutality).
The United States is supposed to be a beacon of hope for the world, a welcoming place, yet we’re tarnishing that ideal for what? Fear, false scarcity, scapegoats, greed, corruption.
This mistreatment of visitors is petty, spiteful, and going to harm us all in the end. We’re going to lose the ‘best and brightest’ from around the world. Folks are simply not going to ‘invest’ here, anymore. We’ll all be ‘poorer’ and ‘worse off’ for allowing this.
Even if he wasn’t allowed entry, I still don’t see a reason to push him to the ground and treat him like an animal. That’s not the America I know.
Watch listen google al the thousands of stories of young indian scammers in india scamming US citizens pretending to be paypal, amazon microsoft etc and many of them also work as HAWALA or money mule in USA to rob gold bars and large amount of cash from US citizens , mostly elderly.
Many of them come here to WORK illegally at many of the shops , convenient stores. Many of them share information online on how to work illegally in USA. Many of them are illiterates pretending to be college kids coming to study in USA. In India, you can bribe the officials and buy genuine college degrees, medical degrees. You can also bribe Bank employee to produce a bank statement for you to show you are rich. So many indians use these as a method to come to USA.
“I love uneducated people”—D Trump in Las Vegas 2016. Well he is making sure those who want an education go to a country where the rule of law still applies.
Unlike USA, rest of the 200 nations in the world have strict immigration and they always restrict visa abuse, illegal entry, illegal work , illegal stay. They all DEPORT AND BAN illegal aliens. They make you pay daily fine for each day of unauthorized stay. There is no protesting or rioting allowed to advocate ILLEGAL immigration. Thank god CBP & ICE is finally allowed to do their job of deporting illegal foreigners. We have the largest legal immigration system in the world, one million enter legally every year. We don’t need and we should deport and ban ILLEGAL aliens.
“I love uneducated people” said D Trump in Las Vegas back in 2016. Indeed he is making sure that those who want an education go to where the rule of law still applies.
And don’t think your status here protects you. He always betrayed those who tyy to us Ted him. When you are no use to his gang you may be next.
the comment section here saddens me. People reading this blog, I assume, like to travel and have had wordly experiences. What has gone so wrong in your lives that you see a teenager on the ground with an officer’s knee in his back and think “good.” For now its “illegals,” next it’s undesirables and dissenters. This is a slippery slope and I hope those who support what is happening now are prepared for when it turns on them.
The left in this country and in most countries have very low birth rates so the only chance they have long term is to import people that are dependent on them and come from places that are more left leaning than the US.
That is why inmigration is such an emotional one. Its why the left gets really upset when immigrants vote for Republicans. They werent brought here for that.
Many immigrants come from socially conservative countries which is problematic for those on the left but the American and European left hope to deal with this later on down the line. Immediate survival is the most important thing.
@Wesley — Nah, we need immigration reform (perhaps another round of amnesty, like Reagan did in the 1980s). Currently, this system is broken, random, and harmful. It’s not even a ‘right’ or ‘left’ thing anymore; the bipartisan border bill from 2024 was a good start, but it was trashed just so #47 could ‘rile the base.’ We’re not solving anything yet, and throwing kids on the floor isn’t the answer either.
There’s more to this story for sure, likely the student did have an expired visa, refused arrest and fought back. Pinning people to the ground is a last resort option, if ICE was forceful and it was not a last resort then they should be charged.
We need deportations more than ever, not just in the U.S. but Canada as well.
Excellent work using your blog to spread your preferred narrative via using a story of which you know ZERO of the details.
Be better.
All of the hullabaloo about this was jumping to conclusions before any facts were even known. According to the Indian Press, it turns out that he is Haryana and wasn’t on a student visa and wasn’t even a student, but was in the USA without benefit of any visa and apparently entered the USA illegally and had no authorization to be in the USA.
And I’ll add, even if he was on a student visa — which according to the Indian media he wasn’t — so were the 9/11 hijackers, and this alone isn’t a good reason not to deport him for misuse that visa.
Yawn……good.
@1990:”Nah, we need immigration reform (perhaps another round of amnesty, like Reagan did in the 1980s). Currently, this system is broken, random, and harmful. It’s not even a ‘right’ or ‘left’ thing anymore; the bipartisan border bill from 2024 was a good start, but it was trashed just so #47 could ‘rile the base.’”
1) reagan regretted signing that bill to the day he died. That was supposed to be an agreement with the democrats to end large scale illegal immigration and they simply changed the rules to increase all forms of immigration. Thus rapidly changing the demographic character of the US.
2) The ‘bipartisan’ border bill will filled with little traps and carve outs to prevent real reform. Leftist love to talk about “border reform” while not enforcing existing law. Which is all Trump is doing.
3) More than 50% of the population agrees with what Trump is doing here. It’s not just his base. No group is more in favor of this than actual first-generation immigrants, who are PISSED at Biden and his masters for what they did. It’s why Trump did so well in places where he wasn’t supposed to. Like Miami-Dade.
I’m sure there was a lot more to the story on the Indian dude. Could CBP have been jagoffs? Absolutely. But they were doing their job and we don’t know what led up to it. I’ve seen too much media fabrication in the past several years to blindly go along with the hand wringing here.
Good.
I’m support our heros in ice and the cbp.
Send all these third worlders back.
“Thus rapidly changing the demographic character of the US”
There it is. Don’t like the brown people, do you?
No indication that he was a student from any good source.
@Sad American – I’m fine with undesirables and dissenters being shipped out of the country. We should only have people in this country that want to be here and will help build the America we deserve, not protest and vandalize. Frankly, I’m waiting for one of those idiots to assault a National Guard member or Marine and get shot (which they will deserve). About time we took a hard line on immigration and law/order. We have been soft for WAY too long.
@AngryFlier — Till the day he died? So, was that him talking, or the Alzheimer’s… (with respect.) On ‘enforcement,’ one of the reasons #47 doesn’t have many ‘violent criminals’ to deport, and is going after mere garment workers or Home Depots instead is that #46 actually ramp’d up deportations in 2024 (yeah, a bit late, but he did.) As for immigrants today, there perspectives have changed since the election, especially the Venezuelans, Cubans in SoFla that lost their protected status; they thought the leopards wouldn’t eat their faces… Naw, there can and should be meaninful, bipartisan reforms, more funding for the immigration courts, specifically, so that claims and due process can actually be efficient and effective. Until then, this is fear-mongering, ‘red meat,’ and mostly for show.
@AC — ‘There you go again…’ calling other human beings “undesirables.” Sheesh. If only you could ‘be treated as you treat others…’ And the First Amendment (freedoms of speech and assembly) is still worthwhile, including peaceful protest (not vandalism or violence). Keep in mind, that Constitution enables you to say silly things like calling other people “undesirables,” as abhorrent as that may be. Lest we forget, there is a limit still, and a paradox of tolerance that we should be mindful of, too…
@AC Who is to say what an undesirable is? If I have a difference of opinion with the ruling party of this country, should I be shipped out of the country? There’s nothing American about that. That very idea is the antithesis of what America stands for, and you are no patriot for thinking that way.
@AC if you think dissenters should be shipped out of the US you belong in a place like Russia or Iran.
If I recall, January 6 was a day where “dissenters” tried to overthrow our government while storming the halls of the Capitol calling for the VP to be hung. They assaulted law enforcement. They damaged government property. They were tried and convicted for their crimes against the United States government.
Imagine if Biden had kicked these “peaceful protesters” out of the country. Folks like you would have burned the country to the ground.
There will come a day when the political pendulum swings back to the middle or toward the left. Y’all better hope the people who get elected as are not as cruel and absolute in their handling of things as you seem to feel is okay today.
@Sad American — Agreed. What @AC suggested is indeed un-American. Apparently anyone who he (or ‘Dear Leader’) doesn’t like, or that they chose to vilify, often on a whim, qualifies as ‘undesirable.’ That’s an inherently flawed evaluation. This creating of -in and -out groups. It’s sadly right out of the 1930s fascist-playbook. It’s not over-reacting at this point. It’s happening here, if we allow it.
@Parker — Well said. I’ve been thinking about that ‘pendulum’ a lot lately, too. Such over-reach, the abuses of law, power, and public trust, it doesn’t usually go very well for the folks that are ‘drunk with power’ in the end. Then again, maybe @AC thinks that those on the ‘other side’ don’t have the ‘stomach.’ We’ll see. There’s likely to be a big mess to clean up after all this, that’s for sure.
Here’s the statement from the Indian consulate:
With regard to a social post about an Indian national detained at Newark Airport in New Jersey in the United States, our Consulate in New York has ascertained that the individual who belongs to Haryana had entered the United States illegally without a valid visa and was being deported back to India as per a court order,” the sources said.
Upon finding his behaviour not conducive for travel, the student was restrained and admitted to a medical facility during his transit in Newark, they said. The government sources further said that the student will be deported to India once he is fit to travel. “Our Consulate in New York continues to remain engaged with the US authorities on this matter,” they added.
Seems like being turned around for lack of valid visa was appropriate.
Seems like being restrained when displaying “ behaviour not conducive for travel” was reasonable, as well.
It looks like at departure gate area, no longer at POE area. Very likely he doesn’t want to go back to India and fight with CBP officers before the recording started.
If college students weren’t so radical last year this wouldn’t be happening. I don’t condone using force if not necessary, but people can’t expect to come here from another country and cause problems. Bye Felicia.
If what Bill says about the statement from the Indian Consulate above is true, why does Gary claim in the article he was here on a valid visa? Someone is not telling the truth.
@Total
Given how many problems they have caused.
No.
Replacement theory is real.
Just a reminder that Obama deported over 3,000,000 people, and Biden, Bernie and Clinton all once had long standing anti-illegal immigration policy positions.
How do you know the visa was valid? Maybe it was revoked after issuance. Maybe he was recently added to a watch list. Maybe they matched his photo to pro-Hamas protests. Maybe he’s a crypto scammer.
Just because he cries like a stuck pig doesn’t mean he is a saint.
The only way to end up on the floor in an airport customs & immigration area is by struggling/fighting/running from CBP.
There’s a LOT more to this story…
Air India flight from Ahmedabad India to London Gatwick has crashed during takeoff. Site was a massive fireball and radar lost it at 625 feet or so.
The photos look pretty grim.
@GUWonder @jns — It’s bad. Gary just made a separate post on it.
@AngryFlier — To dispute your 3rd ‘point’ above, there is a new poll from Quinnipiac poll of American registered voters out today reinforces that both Trump and his policies are unpopular: Just 38% of registered voters approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president; 54% disapprove. Uh oh.
More voters disapprove than approve of Trump’s handling of immigration issues (43% approval to 54% disapproval), deportations (40% approval to 56% disapproval), the economy (40% approval to 56% disapproval), trade (38% approval to 57% disapproval), universities (37% approval to 54% disapproval), the Israel-Hamas conflict (35% approval to 52% disapproval), and the Russia-Ukraine war (34% approval to 57% disapproval).
So, maybe, before the election, He was able to lie to them about what He would do; but, now, 4 months in, people actually know, for real, and they actually do not approve or like it at all. Sure, there’s that 33% base that’ll never give up on him, but, sir, really y’all are just a super vocal minority, and very much out-numbered and unpopular. Be careful not to get too ‘drunk on power,’ because the voters and the people will go the other way, soon enough. That pendulum will swing back. Would be nice to get to a more reasonable ‘center’ so we can actually solve some of these issues rather than just run on them. Anyway, feel free to ignore this at your own peril. It would after all be easier just to say that polling doesn’t matter. I’d expect that denialism.
It always amazes me that one of the most racist sites on the internet is a travel blog, but here we are. It’s sad that Gary has left his blog devolve into this when the issue isn’t as bad on any of his “competitors”, but when you struggle for content and views you gotta accept the trash that comes with it and be thankful anyone is here. This comment section was a good reminder of why I went from a daily reader to just checking in every month or so, and even then I rarely miss anything.
A scammer was just caught and will face the consequences. I LOVE IT!
More of this, please. Let the rule of law prevail over snowflake feelings.
The adults are back in charge, and it is glorious.
@RCB same here. It’s mindblowing to me that people who have the privilege to travel and see the world would want to deny people the same privileges. At this point, I hope other countries start treating US citizens the same way we treat them: with immediate suspicion and harsh entry restrictions.
@No More Playing Around — Wrong. ‘Adults’ don’t throw kids on the ground. You can support ‘law enforcement,’ and want immigration reform, without being cruel or unusual.
This has ALWAYS been the case: “…reminded that holding a visa does not actually confer the right of entry into the United States. Travelers can still be denied entry on arrival.”
@1990 –
Read and weep: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deportation-immigration-opinion-poll/
Yes, the majority do support undoing what was illegally done by Autopen and His Galloping Radicals..
Pretty much irrelevant what the kid was doing and why- all you need are the pictures broadcast around the world, and what tourist in their right mind would come to the USA now?
Incoming international arrivals were down already 14% in March, with more yet to come. That translates into $21B of tourist dollars chased off. Tourism is in the tank.