"Treacherous Routes, Phones Confiscated": Indians Recount Deportation Horror

After traversing treacherous routes through hills, forest and sea, and losing tens of lakhs of rupees to find a passage into the US, 116 Indians landed in Amritsar on board the second deportation flight to India amid US President Donald Trump's hardline stance on illegal immigration.

Nawankot-based Mangal Singh Thind came to the airport to receive his grandson Jasnoor Singh, who left India nine months ago. "The agent told us our child will be taken directly to the US. But he was take nto Colombia, made to stay there for 3.5 months, then taken by ship to Panama, where he crossed deep jungles. He would talk to us twice daily. We saw him scratched, tired and repented sending him away," he told NDTV.

Ferozepur-based Sourav said he was caught within two to three hours of entering the US through a hilly region. His ordeal began on January 17, when an agent took Rs 45 lakhs from him to help him migrate to the US. Instead, he was taken to Malaysia for a week, then for 10 days to Mumbai, followed by Amsterdam, Panama, Tapachula and Mexico city. From there, they travelled for 3-4 days to cross into the US.

Even after they finally crossed the border, the ordeal did not end. The police took them to a police station and then shifted them to a camp, where they stayed for 15-18 days. "No one took our statements, no one heard our appeals. Our hands and legs were tied, our phones were confiscated and only when we boarded the flight were we told we were being deported.

Another deportee Gurbachan Singh's father Jatinder Pal Singh said they paid Rs 50 lakh for their son's immigration, not knowing he would be taken through the donkey route. He added that he had no option but to send his son abroad as he was unable to land a job in India.

Weary from his travel from Brazil, through the forest and areas littered with dead bodies, Gurbachan Singh is hopeful he is given any type of employment in India.

Sourav's family now faces a bleak future, having sold their lands and borrowed money to fund his migration.

Thind urged the Punjab government to give jobs to the people who have been deported.

Among the second batch of deportees, 65 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, two each from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Most of them are aged 18 to 30, sources told PTI.

The first round of deportation had taken place on February 5, when a US military plane transported 104 Indians to Amritsar. A third plane with 157 deportees is expected to land in India on Sunday.