Harwinder Singh had time to reflect during a 40-hour journey earlier this week on a US military transport plane from Texas to the city of Amritsar, in India's Punjab state.

The flight was the last chapter of an ordeal that began in June 2024 after Singh paid an agent over 4 million rupees ($46,000/€44,500) for passage to the United States. The agent had assured the 41-year-old from Punjab that he would reach the US legally in two weeks.

"But instead, I traveled through Qatar, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico, sometimes under precarious conditions, hoping to reach the US, the land of opportunity," Singh told DW.

Singh's agent had facilitated his travel through the so-called "donkey route." The term is used in India to describe illegal and risky migration routes used by people attempting to enter the US or other Western countries without proper documentation, typically involving multiple stops in different countries.

Singh said he and other migrants lived on a subsistence diet while often walking through rugged terrain and in rough weather conditions. In one instance, he and a group of migrants were put in a small boat into the sea toward Mexico, and during the journey, one person fell off the boat without a life jacket and could not be saved.

"I saw another die in the Panama jungle," said Singh.

Singh was caught in Mexico just before crossing into the US in late January, and was handed over to the US Border Patrol and held in a detention center.

He was eventually put in handcuffs and shackles on a........

© Deutsche Welle