The Indian nationals deported from the US for unlawfully entering the country stated they were returned on a military plane with their hands and feet shackled during the entire flight.
A US military plane with 104 deportees, comprising 19 women and 13 children, arrived at Amritsar airport on Wednesday during Donald Trump’s campaign against illegal immigration.
One of the deported individuals, Jaspal Singh, a 36-year-old from Gurdaspur in Punjab, mentioned that they were freed from restraints only upon their arrival in Amritsar.
“We believed we were being transported to a different camp. A police officer informed us that we were being transported to India. Our hands were bound with handcuffs, and our legs were in chains. These were opened at Amritsar airport,” he informed news agency PTI. Singh mentioned that he was held in detention in the US for 11 days prior to returning home.
On Wednesday morning, the government verified a widely circulated photo on social media that alleged Indian migrants were handcuffed and chained during deportation, clarifying that it depicted Guatemalan nationals instead of Indians.
Jaspal Singh was one of several Indians apprehended by the US Border Patrol at the Mexican border on January 24.
He claimed that a travel agent had deceived him by guaranteeing a legal trip to the US.
Harwinder Singh, another deportee hailing from Punjab, mentioned he was transported via Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, and Nicaragua before arriving in Mexico.
During our journey from Mexico to the US, “We traversed hills. “A vessel transporting me and several others was on the verge of overturning in the ocean, but we made it,” he stated.
Harwinder mentioned that he witnessed one individual perish in the Panama jungle and another drowning in the ocean.
Another deportee from Punjab revealed that their “clothes valued at Rs 30,000–35,000 were taken” during the ‘donkey route’ trip to the US.
From the initial group of 104 undocumented immigrants, 33 hailed 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, which included a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven.
