US deportees recount horror of ‘dunki’ routes
Hoshiarpur, Feb 6: Enamoured by the American Dream, they left their homes and undertook perilous journeys, hoping to turn their lives around. They returned handcuffed with dreams cut short, huge debts and stories of how they were duped by travel agents.
A day after a US military aircraft brought back 104 illegal Indian immigrants, including 30 from Punjab, the deportees are staring at a bleak future.
Sukhpal Singh, 35, from Darapur village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, had decided to move to the US after working as a chef in Italy for a year.
In Italy, he and two of his friends came in contact with a travel agent who promised them safe passage to the US for Rs 30 lakh each, Sukhpal told PTI on Thursday.
To pay the travel agent, he used his savings and borrowed money from his friends. The agent assured him of a flight to the US.
“Instead of being taken to the US, the group I was travelling with was taken to Nicaragua. Upon arrival, everyone’s passports were confiscated by the agent’s men and then began an arduous journey through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico,” Sukhpal said.
“It included a 12-hour journey in a small boat across the sea from Mexico to the US border in California. Tragically, one of my fellow travellers drowned during this dangerous journey,” he said.
Sukhpal said he did not tell his family about his travel plans and was hoping to surprise them once he reached the US. He had only told them that he would be out of touch for some time due to work commitments.
“Soon after reaching the US border, I and others were apprehended by US authorities and taken to a detention camp where we were held for 12 days,” he said.
He said they were treated badly in the camp, with no access to legal counsel or immigration officials. “Only snacks and beef were available. I survived on snacks as I do not consume beef,” he said, recalling the ordeal.
The detainees were handcuffed and their feet shackled before they were put on a flight to India, which landed at the Amritsar airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Sukhpal said those on the flight were not allowed to move from their seat and even washroom access was highly restricted. “To avoid using the washroom, I barely ate or drank anything on the flight. The shackles were removed after the flight landed in Amritsar and I was finally provided with a meal,” he added.
Another deportee, Harwinder Singh (41) from Tahli village in Hoshiarpur, narrated a similar ordeal. He left home on August 5 last year after striking a Rs 42-lakh deal with a travel agent who is also his distant relative.
He was promised a visa to a European country and eventually a passage to the US. Once Harwinder reached Brazil, his family paid Rs 25 lakh to the travel agent as agreed. Though he was told that he had a flight from Belem, he was forced to undertake a journey by road through Ecuador and Colombia, finally reaching Panama. There, he was forced to pay the remaining amount to the travel agent in India. From Panama, he and many others were compelled to embark on a perilous journey through a dangerous ‘dunki’ route to enter the United States. Harwinder said that he was along with many others were arrested at the US border.
Having exhausted his family’s savings for nought, Harwinder now demands help from the Punjab government to recover the money paid to the travel agent.
Daler Singh, who hails from Salampur village in Amritsar, too said that he was cheated by the travel agent who had promised to take him to the US legally. He, however, was taken to Brazil via Dubai and then had to traverse the infamous ‘dunki’ route.
“I also wanted to migrate to the US for a better future for my family,” he said.
Singh (37), who was a driver before deciding to migrate to the US, said, “I raised the money by borrowing from relatives and friends, besides mortgaging our farmland.” Jaspal Singh from Gurdaspur was also robbed of a chance to build a better life by a travel agent.
“I paid Rs 40 lakh to the travel agent to go to the US and give a better life to my wife and children. My dream was shattered after I was arrested at the US-Mexico border,” he said.
“I had asked the agent to send me through a proper visa but he deceived me,” he said. Jaspal said he reached Brazil by air in July last year and was promised that the next leg of the journey to the US would also be by air.
However, the agent forced him to cross the border illegally. Pardeep Singh (22), who hails from Lalru in Amritsar, reached the US after travelling across countries for six months. He was arrested immediately after reaching the US border by the patrolling forces, his family said. His parents took a loan of Rs 41 lakh to send him to the US. Now, they do not know how they will pay it back. (PTI)
‘15,668 illegal Indian immigrants deported from US since 2009’
New Delhi, Feb 6: As many as 15,668 illegal Indian immigrants have been deported to India from the US since 2009, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Making a statement in the Upper House after opposition parties stepped up their criticism over the treatment meted out to 104 illegal Indian immigrants who landed in Amritsar on Wednesday in a US military plane, Jaishankar asserted that the process of deportation has been ongoing for several years and is not new. Citing data available with Indian law enforcement authorities, the minister said in 2009, 734 were deported, 799 in 2010, 597 in 2011, 530 in 2012, and 515 in 2013. As per Jaishankar’s statement, in 2014 when the NDA government came to power, 591 were deported, followed by 708 in 2015. In 2016, a total of 1,303 were deported, 1,024 in 2017, 1,180 in 2018. The highest deportation was witnessed in 2019 with 2,042 illegal Indian immigrants being sent back to the country. In 2020 the deportation number was 1,889; 805 in 2021; 862 in 2022; 617 in 2023; 1,368 last year, and 104 so far this year. Jaishankar said deportations by the US are organised and executed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities and “the standard operating procedure for deportations by aircraft used by ICE that is effective from 2012, provides for the use of restraints”. (PTI)