US deports fresh batch of 35 Indians, most of them handcuffed

The inhuman treatment of Indian citizens deported from the US continues despite several appeals.

The latest batch of Indian deportees included 35 people from Haryana’s Kaithal, Karnal, and Kurukshetra districts, news agency PTI reported on Sunday (October 26). Most of them were handcuffed.

A plane carrying these illegal immigrants landed in Delhi airport late on Saturday night.

“Most of us were handcuffed while on the plane,” said Naresh Kumar, a deportee who hailed from Kaithal.

Deportees taken home

Among the deported people, 16 were from Karnal, 14 from Kaithal, and five from Kurukshetra. They were brought to their respective districts and handed over to their family members, officials said.

Karnal Superintendent of Police Ganga Ram Punia confirmed that 16 of the deportees hailed from different villages in the district.

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According to Kaithal Deputy Superintendent of Police Lalit Kumar, 14 men were brought from Delhi airport to Kaithal Police Lines on Sunday. Among them, four each were from Kalayat and Pundri blocks, two were from Kaithal, three were from Dhand block and one hailed from Guhla block.

The DSP said the men had taken the treacherous “dunki route” to enter the US.

Dejected at deportation

Meanwhile, the immigrants — most of them in the 25-40 age group — expressed dejection at the deportation, saying they had spent lakhs by selling off land, borrowing from relatives, and draining out their savings to migrate to the US in pursuit of a better future.

Naresh Kumar said an agent promised to send him to the US for a fee of Rs 42 lakh, but he had to ultimately eke out Rs 57 lakh.

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“I paid Rs 42 lakh by selling one acre of land. Thereafter, I paid Rs 6 lakh that I borrowed on interest. My brother sold some land to raise Rs 6.5 lakh. Then my relative paid Rs 2.85 lakh in June. A total of Rs 57 lakh was paid,” he said.

Admitting that it took him two months to enter the US by the “dunki route”, Naresh Kumar said he would not advise anyone to do so. He spent 14 months in jail before being deported to India.

No formal complaint yet

The Kaithal DSP said police have not received a formal complaint against any agent yet. He said one of the deportees had a case registered against him under the Excise Act.

The deportees from Kaithal included Naresh Kumar (Taragarh village), Karn Sharma (Peedal), Mukesh Kumar (Aggarwal Colony), Ritik Sharma (Chiranjiv Colony), Sukhbir Singh (Jadaula), Amit Kumar (Habri), Abhishek Kumar (Buchhi), Mohit Kumar (Barta), Ashok Kumar (Pabnawa), Ashish Kumar (Serdha), Damanpreet Singh (Habri), Prabhat Chand (Sisla), and Satnam Singh (Pehrak) and Diamond of Munarehri village.

Also read: Handcuffed, crying: NRI tweets photos of ‘Indian student’ being deported from US

After Donald Trump assumed office as the US President in January this year, the country’s law enforcement agencies have launched a crackdown against illegal immigrants. Earlier this year, American authorities had deported several youths from Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat, almost all of them handcuffed.

The Opposition has raised the issue in Parliament, and India has taken up the issue with the US on several occasions, but the inhuman treatment of deportees continues.

(With agency inputs)