'Jailed for 20 days': Deportees were detained at US border before being sent to India

Many of the Indians who were deported from the US were detained at the US border before being sent back to India. An Indian citizen who illegally migrated to the US said on Thursday that he was jailed for 20 days at the US border before being sent back to India. 

He also said that he was lied to that he would be sent legally but ended up becoming a victim of the 'donkey' route instead. "I faced a lot of difficulties on the way. Now that I am back here, I will work here. I crossed the border with difficulty. I reached there is 8 months. I was jailed at the US border for 20 days and then I was sent back," he told news agency ANI. 

He also mentioned that everyone, except children, was chained and told that they were being sent back to India. "Now we will do farming here. The local MLA has said that the government will help us. We request the government to help us in getting our money back. We were lied to and sent illegally via donkey route." 

The father of a man who was deported by the US said that his son had a shop in Ambala but he got lured by a travel agent, who said that he would send him to the US quickly. He added that since his son was adamant to go to the US, the agent misled him and told him he would send him to the States within a month.

"But the agent wasted 8-9 months, he took a lot of money. He took ₹40-45 lakhs. He crossed the US border on January 19 but he was immediately caught. They kept him with them for 5-7 days and then sent him back here. It took him 6 months to get there," he said. 

He also accused the agent of hiding the fact that he would take his son to the US through the 'donkey route'. "He had assured us that he would not have to walk for even 2 minutes...My son sold off his shop and everything else. I also gave him money from my pension...I hope strict action is taken against those who are sending people duping them...We will complain against the agent."

On Wednesday, the US government deported around 104 Indian nationals aboard a military aircraft for illegally arriving in the country. The aircraft landed at 01:55 pm on February 5 at the Amritsar airport.