Thirty-nine Bangladeshi citizens who were in the United States without legal status were deported and arrived in Dhaka on Saturday morning, according to officials.
The group, which included adult men and women, landed at Shahjalal International Airport aboard a U.S. military aircraft on Saturday, August 2. The deportation was part of an ongoing repatriation effort coordinated between the governments of Bangladesh and the United States.
According to Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a previous notification from the Consular and Welfare Wing had indicated that 61 Bangladeshis were scheduled to return on the military aircraft. However, law enforcement officials from the Special Branch of police had earlier reported that at least 30 individuals were being deported on a chartered flight. The initial estimate of 60 was later revised.
Since January, the Trump administration has increased deportations of undocumented immigrants as part of its immigration policy. Citizens from several countries, including India, Brazil and Bangladesh, have been repatriated. While some deportees from other nations have returned in handcuffs, Bangladeshi nationals have not faced such measures, according to officials familiar with the process.
Bangladesh had requested humane treatment of its citizens during pre-deportation discussions with U.S. authorities, and that request has been honored, officials said.
The 39 citizens returned Saturday join a growing number of deportees being sent back to Bangladesh monthly under the current U.S. policy. To date, 118 Bangladeshi nationals have previously been deported under similar arrangements.