A 40-hour ordeal in chains marked the return of Harwinder Singh, who was among the 104 Indian immigrants deported by the US in the first batch under its latest crackdown. 40 year old Harwinder, from Tahli village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, told The Indian Express that his journey back home was nothing ‘worse than hell’. He claimed all deportees were handcuffed, their hands were chained, and were forced to remain seated for the entire time. ‘After requesting repeatedly, we were permitted to drag ourselves to the washroom. The Crew would open the door and push us in,’ he stated.
Food was another issue, as they were forced to eat with handcuffs on, and their pleas to get it removed were unheard. He recollected the ‘’journey as not only physically painful but mentally exhausting.’’
The US Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft landed at the Amritsar airport yesterday. The US action has come just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet President Donald Trump in Washington.
Following reports of fake videos and reports circulated on social media, United States Border Patrol validated reports that104 Indian nationals were indeed deported while being handcuffed and chained. The deportation flight operated by a US military aircraft landed in India yesterday.
The footage shared by the US Border Patrol Chief Michael W Banks depicts the deportees boarding the aircraft with their hands and feet restrained. Chief Banks pointed out the US commitment to enforcing immigration laws, stating, ‘’If you cross illegally, you will be removed.’’
Harwinder paid Rs 42 lakh to settle in US
In June 2024, Harwinder and his wife Kuljinder Kaur took a life changing risk. As they were struggling to survive on earnings from cattle milk, they were convinced by a relative who also was an agent to opt for a legal migration route for the US and it cost Rs 42 lakh. To raise the fund, the family mortgaged their only acre of land and took high interest loans on it.
Instead of reaching the US, Harwinder kept shifting from one country to another for months amid inhumane conditions. Kuljinder told the Indian Express, ‘’He was passed from one place to another like a pawn in a game’’. Despite all hardships, he recorded his struggle through a video which he sent to her wife, the last time she was able to contact him was in the middle of January.