Painful Story of Illegal Immigrants: Jaspal Singh, one of the 104 deportees brought by a US plane on Wednesday, claimed that they (deported immigrants) were handcuffed and shackled throughout the journey and were removed only after landing at Amritsar airport. 36-year-old Singh, a resident of Hardorwal village in Gurdaspur district, said that he was caught by the US Border Patrol after crossing the US border on January 24.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from different states landed here on Wednesday. This is the first batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump government as part of the crackdown on illegal immigrants. Sources said that 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and two from Chandigarh. They said that the deported people include 19 women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven.
Talking about their journey from the US to India, people said that the journey was worse than hell. Harvinder Singh, 40, a resident of Tahli village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, said, "For 40 hours we were handcuffed, our legs were tied with chains and we were not even allowed to move from our seats. After repeated requests, we were allowed to be dragged to the washroom. The crew would just open the washroom door and push us inside."
Describing this journey as 'worse than hell', Harvinder said that he could not even eat properly during this 40-hour journey. We were fed in handcuffs. When we requested the security personnel to open the handcuffs for some time, they did not listen to us at all. This journey was not only physically painful, but was also very tiring mentally. However, during this time a kind-hearted crew member gave him fruits.
Harvinder told that he could not sleep even for a moment during this entire journey. The only thing going on in his mind was that the promise he had made to his wife of a better life in America could not be fulfilled. In June 2024, Harvinder and his wife Kuljinder Kaur took a big decision. Even after 13 years of marriage, they had limited resources and were worried about the future of their two children, a 12-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.
They made a living by selling milk from animals, but the income was not enough to give a better life to their children. Then a distant relative offered to take them to America. He claimed that he would send Harvinder to America legally in just 15 days, but it would cost Rs 42 lakh. To fulfill the dream of a better life, the family mortgaged their only acre of land and took a loan at a high interest rate, but the reality was very different.
Kuljinder says, 'I was not at all prepared for the situation that was to come. For 8 months, my husband was taken to different countries. He was moved from one place to another like a pawn. During this time Harvinder faced life-threatening situations, but still he documented his journey and kept making videos and sending them to me.
In mid-January he lost contact with his family and then on Wednesday the villagers informed him that Harvinder was among the 104 people who had returned from the US. This news came as a big shock to Kuljinder.
Kuljinder says that not only 42 lakh rupees, but the agent extorted money at every step. Just two and a half months ago, when Harvinder was in Guatemala, the agent asked him for another 10 lakh rupees. Now Kuljinder wants that strict action should be taken against that agent and her money should be returned. Kuljinder says, 'We only dreamed of a better future for our children, but now we are drowned in debt and despair.'
Harvinder's family lived a very simple life earlier too. They were somehow managing to survive by farming and animal husbandry on rented land. His younger brother also farms on rented land, but the income was not enough to comfortably meet the children's education and household expenses. Now his 85-year-old father and 70-year-old mother are also forced to work in the fields. Now there is neither land nor money left - only debt and broken hopes.
PC:Zeenews
