In a fresh wave of deportations, four Punjabis who were illegally residing in the United States were quietly sent back to India. A flight carrying them landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday, from where they were shifted to Amritsar on an IndiGo flight. The four individuals belong to different districts of Punjab, including Batala, Patiala, and Jalandhar.
As soon as they arrived at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport in Amritsar, Punjab Police took them into custody for questioning. Authorities are verifying their backgrounds and travel history before escorting them to their respective homes. However, local district administrations have chosen to remain tight-lipped about the matter, refraining from making any official statements.
The deportation comes amid a larger crackdown by US authorities on undocumented immigrants. So far, 336 Indians have already been sent back in three separate batches.
Who Are the Four Deportees
The four fresh deportees are Jatinder Singh of Kansuha Kalan village in Patiala district; Maninder Singh of Chandpura in Jalandhar district; Jugaraj Singh of Choudharpur village in Batala; and Harpreet Singh from Qadian in Batala.
Jatinder was illegally sent to the US through a network of human smugglers. A travel agent named Jobanjeet Singh from J-Traveler, based in Patiala’s Neel Bhavan, took Rs 52 lakh from him to facilitate his journey. He traveled via Delhi, Guyana, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico before entering the United States.
Maninder paid Rs 42 lakh to an agent named Goldy from Delhi. He was routed through Spain, El Salvador, and then Mexico before crossing into the US.
Jugaraj paid Rs 38 lakh to a travel agent named Malkit Singh from Khan Pyara, Batala. His route was far more complicated, covering Delhi, Mumbai, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and finally Mexico before reaching the US. Harpreet also paid Rs 38 lakh to Malkit Singh, following the same extensive route as Jugaraj.
Previous Deportations
This is not the first time that large-scale deportations of undocumented Punjabis from the US have taken place. Over the past month, multiple flights carrying deported Indian nationals have landed in Amritsar.
On February 16, a flight carrying 112 deportees, landed at Amritsar Airport. A day earlier, on February 15, another flight with 116 Indians, arrived late at night. In these cases, except for women and children, all deportees were reportedly handcuffed and shackled throughout the journey. Their families were allowed brief meetings at the airport before police escorted them home following a five-hour verification process.
Before that, on February 5, a flight with 104 Indian deportees, arrived under similar circumstances. Many of them, except children, were also restrained in handcuffs and leg irons.
With these latest arrivals, a total of 332 undocumented Indian immigrants have been deported back to India so far. Experts believed that this is just the beginning of a larger wave of deportations, as the US intensifies its immigration policies and border control measures.
