The Donald Trump administration in the US deported 104 undocumented Indian immigrants, including 19 women and 13 children, who arrived in Amritsar on Wednesday.
The Indian nationals deported from the US for entering the country illegally said that they were sent back on a military plane, with their hands and legs cuffed the entire way.
A US military plane carrying 104 deportees, including 19 women and 13 children, landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday as part of Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
One of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, a 36-year-old from Gurdaspur in Punjab, said they were only unshackled after arriving in Amritsar.
Jaspal told to news agency PTI that “We thought we were being taken to another camp. Then a police officer told us that we were being taken to India. We were handcuffed, and our legs were chained. These were opened at Amritsar airport,” he also added that he was kept in custody in the US for 11 days before being sent back home.
Earlier on Wednesday, the government clarified a photo that had been widely shared on social media, claiming it showed Indian migrants being handcuffed and shackled during deportation. The government stated that the photo actually featured Guatemalan nationals, not Indians.
Jaspal Singh was among the several other Indians who were captured by the US Border Patrol from the Mexican border on January 24.
He said that he was fooled by a travel agent who had promised to send him to the US legally. “I had asked the agent to send me with a proper visa, but he defrauded me,” said Jaspal, adding that the deal was made for Rs 30 lakh. “A huge sum was spent and the money was borrowed.”
Harwinder Singh who was another deportee was from Punjab, said he was taken through Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua before reaching Mexico. While travelling from Mexico to the US, “We crossed hills. A boat that was carrying me along with other people was about to turn upside down in the sea, but we survived”
Harwinder also mentioned that he saw one person dying in the Panama jungle and one drowning in the sea.
Another deportee from Punjab mentioned that their “clothes worth Rs 30,000–35,000 were stolen” during the journey along the ‘donkey route’ to the US.
The first group of 104 illegal immigrants included 33 from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. Among the deportees were 19 women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven.
The US deportation of Indian immigrants took place just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington for extensive talks with President Donald Trump. Sources say US officials have compiled a list of 18,000 undocumented Indians to be sent back to India.
