Harpreet Singh Laliya, a resident of Nagpur, was among the 104 Indians deported from the United States, returning home in handcuffs and leg chains. Laliya had set out with dreams of working in Canada, but a mistake by his agent turned his journey into a nightmare. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, he lamented the loss of Rs 50 lakh, which he had borrowed from banks, friends, and family to fund his migration.
“I spent Rs 49.5 lakh in all. This money was taken from banks as loans and from friends and kin. I had gone on a Canadian visa and wanted to go to work in that country. However, due to my agent’s mistake, I suffered this ordeal,” Laliya said.
Journey Through Multiple Countries
Laliya’s journey began on December 5, 2024, when he departed from New Delhi on a Canada visa. However, he was denied boarding at Abu Dhabi, forcing him to return to Delhi for eight days. His agent then arranged an alternate route through Egypt, Spain, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico, before reaching the U.S. border.
During this treacherous journey, he endured a 10-day in captivity by the Mexican mafia, a four-hour trek through mountains in Mexico and a gruelling 16-hour walk to the US border. Despite these hardships, his dream of reaching Canada collapsed when he was detained and deported by US authorities.
A C-17 Globemaster aircraft carrying 104 deportees landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday. The group included individuals from Haryana (33), Gujarat (33), Punjab (30), Maharashtra (3), Uttar Pradesh (3), and Chandigarh (2).
Describing their deportation process, Laliya stated that they were taken to a “welcome centre” before being placed on a US military aircraft. He expressed humiliation over being shackled during the journey.
The incident has sparked political controversy, with the opposition criticising the Union government for failing to protect deportees from mistreatment. Responding in Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar clarified that US immigration authorities (ICE) follow a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) that allows the use of restraints on deportees but exempts women and children.
Indian Deportations from the US
Speaking in the Parliament, external affairs minister S Jaishankar emphasised that deportations of Indian nationals from the US have been a longstanding process and not a recent development. He cited official data from Indian law enforcement agencies to illustrate the trend over the years.
According to the figures, 734 individuals were deported in 2009, followed by 799 in 2010, 597 in 2011, 530 in 2012, and 550 in 2013. When the NDA government assumed power in 2014, 591 deportations were recorded, with numbers rising to 708 in 2015.
The deportation rate surged significantly in subsequent years, reaching 1,303 in 2016, 1,024 in 2017, and 1,180 in 2018. The highest recorded deportations occurred in 2019, with 2,042 individuals sent back to India.
In the following years, 1,889 were deported in 2020, followed by 805 in 2021, 862 in 2022, 670 in 2023, and 1,368 in 2024. As of 2025, 104 individuals have already been deported.
(With PTI inputs)