The second batch of 116 deported Indian immigrants from the United States landed at Amritsar International Airport late Saturday night, many of them recounting harrowing experiences during their journey. Daljit Singh, a native of Kurala Kalan village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, claimed that deportees were handcuffed with their legs chained during the flight, according to news agency PTI.
"Our legs were chained, and hands were also cuffed," Singh told reporters on Sunday in Hoshiarpur. Singh was among the deportees brought back on a US military C-17 aircraft that landed at Amritsar around 11:35 p.m. Saturday. Singh said he was taken to the US through the dangerous "donkey route" — an illegal pathway often used by migrants.
His wife, Kamalpreet Kaur, alleged that Singh was deceived by a travel agent who had promised him a direct, legal journey to the US. "A man from our village arranged for a travel agent who assured us that my husband would be taken to the US legally. But later, he was taken through multiple locations, which raised suspicions about the legitimacy of his travel," Kaur said.
The deportees, after undergoing immigration and background checks at the airport, were escorted to their homes in police vehicles around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Of the 116 deportees, 65 were 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 were aged between 18 and 30, sources said.
The Haryana government made separate transportation arrangements for the deportees from the state.
The flight was part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration under the Donald Trump administration. A similar flight had arrived earlier on February 5, bringing back 104 deportees — most of whom were also from Punjab. Many of those deportees had recounted similar experiences, saying they were promised a better life in the US but were instead duped by agents and eventually caught at the US border.
A third plane carrying 157 deportees is expected to land at Amritsar International Airport on Sunday, sources told PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)