Jatinder Singh, one of the illegal Indian immigrants who landed in Amritsar on Sunday, recounted his experience at a detention camp in the US before being brought back to India. He said that he was in a detention camp for around 2 weeks before being brought back to India.
Singh, aged 23 years old, told India Today TV that he was tortured in the detention camp and alleged that US Army officials forced him to take his turban (dastar) out and threw it in the dustbin.
At the detention camp, they made me remove my turban despite my objection. They said it was their rule and threw the turban in the dustbin," Jatinder Singh said. He added that the officials turned on the AC at a lower temperature and amped up the heater's power, leading to his skin being dry.
Singh also noted that the detainees were not given proper food at all. They only gave me just Lay's chips and Frooti juice two times a day."
Citing a lack of employment opportunities in Amritsar, he said that he wanted to settle in the States with a job to support his family. The 23-year-old mentioned that he was in shackles for around 36 hours on the US military aircraft.
Singh also made it clear that women and children were not shackled during the flight. He said that in November last year, he contacted an agent on his friends' advice and paid ₹50 lakh to the agent after the latter promised him to take him to the US.
"My family sold all the land they had (1.3 acres) and I gave Rs 22 lakh to the agent in advance. I also sold off the jewelleries of my two married sisters and paid the remaining amount to the agent."
He added that according to the agent, he would enter the US by covering Panama jungles for 3 days and boarding a plane to Mexico, from where he would enter the States' border from Tijuana.
"He (The agent) said he had the experience of ensuring illegal immigrants crossed the border safely without being caught." He said that the agent cheated him and fled halfway and when he finally crossed the US border, he was caught by the border police who kept him in the detention camp.
He also mentioned that he would now look for a job in India and never go abroad. A total of 112 illegal Indian immigrants were deported from the US to Amritsar on Sunday late night. This was the third such arrival of illegal immigrants from the US in the last 10 days.
Out of the 112 deportees who landed in Amritsar on Sunday, 44 are from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 31 from Punjab, 2 from Uttar Pradesh, and 1 each from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.