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One of the deportees, Jaspal Singh – among 104 deportees who arrived from the US in a aircraft on Wednesday further stated that their hands and legs were chained until they reached Amritsar airport.
Singh, who is 36 and hails from the Hardorwal village in Gurdaspur district said that he was picked up by the US Border Patrol on the 24th of January.
A US military aircraft accommodating 104 immigrants from different states arrived here on Wednesday as the first lot of Indians that have been deported under the new policy of the Donald Trump government against illegal immigrants.
Among them, 33 men were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 men were from Punjab, three men were from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and two men were one from Chandigarh all the source added.
The deportees include women, 19 of them, and minors, 13 of them that included a four year old boy and two girls aged five and seven years respectively. Most of the deportees from Punjab were dropped at their villages in police transports from the Amritsar airport.
Upon arriving to his home town Wednesday evening Jaspal stated that he was defrauded by a travel agent, in which he believed he would be sent to the US legally.
I had requested the agent to forward me with a proper visa. Those were Jaspal’s words Fate has really deceived me. He stated that the money transaction was made over a deal of Rs 30 lakhs.
Jaspal testified that he arrived at Brazil by flight last July of the previous year. He was told that the rest of the journey which was to the United States was also going to be done by air. However, he was ‘cheated’ by his agent into cross the border was not legally since it was against the law to do so. He decided to go to the US after staying for six months in Brazil, but unfortunately, he was arrested by the US Border Patrol.
Taking care of this ill treatment, he stayed in custody for 11 days and later released and sent back home. Jaspal mentioned he did not know that he was going to be deported to India. We actually believed that we were to be transported to another camp. Another police officer informed us that we were to be taken to India.
As if ready for a robbery, our hands were handcuffed, and our legs were chained.” These were opened at the Amritsar airport,” he claimed. Jaspal said he was shattered by deportation He stressed that nobody actually expects or wanted to be deported; however, the word abnormal refers to the extreme measures that are taken and the situation which is created. "A huge sum was spent. The money was borrowed." In the past, Jaspal’s cousin Jasbir Singh commented, “We came to know about his deportation from the media on Wednesday morning”.
In speaking of deportations he stated, “These are issues of governments.” If we have to work outside our own country, then we have a dream that our families will have better future. Those have now been shattered."
Two more deportees who came to their homes in the Hoshiarpur on Wednesday night also narrated their painful experience they faced for reaching the USA.
One more victim of the human trafficking racket is Harwinder Singh who hails from the Tahli village in Hoshiarpur district and had left for the US in August last year. He has gone to Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, and Mexico. From Mexico, he along with other boys were relocated to the US, he stated.
"We crossed hills. He said, “as I was with other individuals, in a boat when the boat was to sink in the sea we were saved”. He admitted that he witnessed one man die of suffocation in the jungle of Panama and another of drowning in the sea.
Singh stated that his travel agent with much persuasion assured him that he would first be taken to Europe and the next stop would be Mexico. He confirmed that he made expenses of forty two lakh rupees for his tour to US only. "Sometimes we got rice. At other times we did not even manage to get food to eat. It consisted of biscuits,” he said.
Another of the deportee from Punjab said that they travelled through a path referred to as the ‘donkey route’ to get to the US. “The baggage contained some of our clothes including scoring worth Rs 30,000-35,000, which were stolen during the journey,” he said. The deportee stated that they was first deported to Italy and then to Latin America. He stated that they had to be in a boat for 15 hours and tut walk between 40-45 km.
"We crossed 17-18 hills. If one stumbled, then there was no way in which he would be able to escape alive. We have seen a lot. When someone was injured the concept was to let him lie there and die. We saw dead bodies," he said. But as for the earlier part of the day, a C-17 Globemaster belonging to US Air Force made a smooth landing on the Amritsar airport.
The US move has happened only a few days before the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is to make a visit to the United States for a meeting with the President, Donald Trump. After landing, the deportees interviewing within the airport terminal building by Punjab Police and other state and central intelligence agencies in order to ascertain their track record of any involvement in criminal activities.
