Salempura: It took Daler Singh six months and $45,000 to reach the United States last month without paperwork. Within three weeks of his arrival, he was sent back to his native India on a military plane, his hands and legs cuffed throughout the journey.
Singh, 37, was among 104 Indians deported by US authorities on Wednesday in a highly publicized transfer that fulfills a key election promise of President Donald Trump but is an embarrassment for India, a close partner, whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to visit Washington next week.
“I have lost my entire life savings. My dreams are shattered,” Singh said at his home in Salempura village in Punjab, bordering Pakistan.
“Nobody should take the illegal route and buy promises made by agents. People should go through the visa route.”
Singh said he had to mortgage family jewelry and land to raise about four million rupees ($45,700) to pay the agent. He said his journey began in early August, flying to Dubai where he stayed for several months before trekking through Mexico for days to reach the US.
US authorities detained him on January 15 and then moved him and others onto a C-17 Globemaster aircraft this week for the journey back home.
In a social media post, US Border Patrol (USBP) chief Michael W Banks posted a video showing some men being led into a military plane with handcuffs and legs in chains.
“USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport,” Banks said on X.
The return of the Indians, aged from 4 to 46, and including 25 females, has given the country’s opposition parties a chance to hit back at the government of Modi, who has spoken about boosting ties with the US.
Singh said, “Our hands and legs were cuffed throughout,” looking tired after the long journey as reporters questioned him, with his wife and two children milling around their one-story house by a wheat field.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told parliament that it is standard practice for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to restrain deportees, but that it was not done with the women and children on the flight.
He added, “We are, of course, engaging with the US government to ensure that returning deportees are not mistreated during the flight.”
