Claiming to have been taken back on a military aircraft with their hands and legs bound throughout the trip, the Indian nationals who were deported from the US said they arrived in the country illegally.
Under Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, a US military plane loaded with 104 deportees—including 19 women and 13 minors—landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday.
One of the deportees, 36-year-old Jaspal Singh from Gurdaspur in Punjab, said that they were unshackled only upon arrival in Amritsar.
We assumed we were being sent to another camp. Then a police officer informed us we were heading to India. Our legs were chained, and we were handcuffed. He informed news agency PTI, these were opened at Amritsar airport. Singh further mentioned that before being sent home, he spent eleven days in prison in the US.
Later on Wednesday, the government fact-checked a picture that was extensively posted on social media alleging that Indian immigrants were shackled and their legs were chained during deportation, stating it was really of Guatemalan people, not Indians.
at with many other Indians caught by the US Border Patrol on January 24 at the Mexican border, Jaspal Singh
He claimed he was conned by a travel agent who had promised to transport him to the US lawfully.
“I had asked the agent to send me with a proper visa, but he misled me,” Jaspal remarked, noting that the arrangement was for Rs 30 lakh. “A great deal was paid. One borrowed money.
Another Punjab deportee, Harwinder Singh, claimed he was flown through Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua before arriving in Mexico.
“We crossed hills on our way from Mexico to the US. We survived even though a boat carrying me along with others was poised to capsize in the sea.
Harwinder added he observed one drowning in the sea and one dying in the Panama bush.
Another deportee from Punjab related that during the “donkey route” trip to the US, their “clothes worth Rs 30,000–35,000 were stolen”.
Of the initial 104 illegal immigrants in the first batch, 33 from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, thirty from Punjab, three from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, two from Chandigarh. Among the deportees were nineteen women and thirteen youngsters, including two girls aged five and seven and a four-year-old lad.
Just few days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington for extensive negotiations with President Donald Trump, the US deported Indian immigrants. Sources claim that US officials have compiled an 18,000 illegal Indian list ready for return to India.
