DHAKA – Recently, the handcuffing and chaining of citizens who are illegally in the United States and sending them back to their respective countries is inhumane and an extreme insult, says the secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

“It is not legal to send back those who illegally enter the United States from Bangladesh and other countries with handcuffs and chains. Even though there is a provision for deporting them under U.S. law, they should be sent back with dignity,” Holy Cross Father Hubert Liton Gomes, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission, told Crux.

The priest criticized the United States and the current Trump administration, saying, “In fact, they talk about human rights, but they are the ones who violate human dignity and human rights the most.”

The church official also questioned whether illegal citizens are being sent back after legal review.

On Dec. 8, 31 people Bangladeshi arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a special U.S. military flight. The returning workers claim that they were brought home after being handcuffed and shackled for about 60 hours.

“I still have scars on my hands, scars on my waist, spots all over my body. I was kept in handcuffs for 70 hours before I landed at the airport in Bangladesh, and I was not even allowed to go to the bathroom,” one person who returned from the United States, who asked not to be named, told Crux.

He said he had gone to Bolivia legally three years ago and then went to the U.S. via Mexico. He tried to become legal there but was unsuccessful.

“I sold the land and went abroad with that money, and I wanted to become legal there, but I couldn’t. We were sent back to the country in shackles and handcuffs like animals, now we are destitute,” he said.

Earlier this year, the U.S. deported 226 Bangladeshis. Most of them were also handcuffed and shackled in the same way.

However, Migration and Youth Platform specialist Shariful Hassan told Crux that at least seven of the 31 returnees had gone to Brazil with Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training clearances and later tried to enter the US illegally via Brazil and Mexico. After their asylum applications failed, the U.S. authorities decided to deport them after the legal process.

Hassan said that while it is normal to deport someone without documents, keeping them in handcuffs and shackles for hours “is inhumane.”

On Nov. 28, 39 people were sent back to the country on a chartered flight and on June 8, 42 people were sent back on another chartered flight.

Earlier, from March 6 to April 21, at least 34 people were brought back on various flights.

The number of Bangladeshis deported from the United States from the beginning of 2024 to August this year was more than 220.