US deportation of 104 Indians: The Deportees tell their stories.

US Deports 104 Indians: Stories of Struggle and Survival

Written by: Supriya Kadu

Edited by: Pinky Deshmukh

Last Updated: February 06, 2025

Summary: 104 Indian migrants were deported to India from the US.

104 Indian migrants returned home after abandoning the American dream due to Donald Trump's policies regarding illegal immigration. Before landing in Amritsar on Wednesday, the C-17 Globemaster, a US military plane, made four refueling stops.

Harvinder Singh, a native of Tahli village in the Hoshiarpur region of Punjab, said, he paid an agent Rs 42 lakh to obtain a work visa in the US. Singh was added to a series of flights from Delhi to Qatar and then to Brazil after being informed at the last minute that the visa had not been processed.

"In Brazil, I was told I would be put on a flight from Peru, but there was no such flight. Then, taxis took us further to Colombia and the beginning of Panama. I was told a ship would transport us from there, but there was no ship either. This is where our "dunki" route began, which lasted two days," he said.

Singh and the other migrants were dispatched into the deep water toward the Mexican border in a small boat after walking through the mountains. The boat carrying him sank, killing one of his companions, during the four-hour sea voyage. Another perished in the jungles of Panama. They managed to survive on small amounts of rice throughout this time.

One of the deportee's mothers, Kanubhai Pate,l said, "I have no idea what she planned after reaching Europe. The last time we talked with her was January 14. We have no idea how she reached the US.”

Talking about the deportation from the US to India, he shared the experience all of them experienced. “For 40 hours, we were handcuffed, our feet tied with chains, and were not allowed to move an inch from our seats. After repeated requests, we were allowed to drag ourselves to the washroom. The crew would open the door of the lavatory and shove us in.”

“They would force us to eat with handcuffs on. Our requests to the security personnel to remove the cuffs for a few minutes fell on deaf ears. The journey was not only physically painful but also mentally exhausting.” One of the crew members was kind enough to offer them fruits.

The family members of illegal immigrants from Punjab claimed they borrowed large sums of money to enable their trip to America in search of a promising future but now find themselves buried in debt and urged to take strict action against those agents.

Statements by the deportees.