Fact-Check: This Image Doesn’t Show United States Recently Deporting Immigrants

We found that neither is this image recent nor does it show US deporting immigrants.

Fact-Check | The image is old and is being falsely linked to the United States.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image of huge crowd sitting inside what appears to be an aircraft is being shared on the internet to claim that it shows a United States flight, which is being used to deport immigrants.

The context: The claim comes amid reports of President Donald Trump's administration deporting around 200 Indian immigrants on a military plane that is supposed to land in Amritsar.

• Apart from that, there are reports mentioning about the government deporting several immigrants to Columbia as well.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: The claim is false. The image dates back to August 2021 and shows Afghans fleeing their country after Taliban took over Kabul.

How did we find that out?: A simple reverse image search directed us to a news report published by The Quint.

• It said that Afghans, who can be seen crammed against each other in a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, were safely evacuated from Kabul to Qatar.

• The image was taken after Taliban took control of Kabul.

• The report further said that the aircraft carried around 640 Afghans, including women and children.

The report was published on 17 August 2021.

(Source: The Quint)

Other sources: Team WebQoof found the same image published on stock image website — Alamy.

• Its caption said, "Mission callsign " Reach 871 ", A US C-17 is loaded with 640 Afghans trying to escape the Taliban. A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III safely transported approximately 640 Afghan citizens from Hamid Karzai International Airport Aug. 15, 2021."

• The image was captured on 15 August 2021.

The image was taken on 15 August 2021.

(Source: Alamy/Screenshot)

Conclusion: It is evident that the image is old and is being shared with a misleading context.

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