On the afternoon of 5 February 2025, a US military aircraft landed at Amritsar’s Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, carrying 104 Indian immigrants who had entered the United States illegally. This marked one of the first large-scale deportations following the new US government’s tightened immigration policies. The deportees, primarily from Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat, were processed at the airport before being sent back to their respective hometowns. Though this incident has created a hue and cry in the country, particularly because of opposition leaders who have questioned the relative silence of the Modi government on the issue, the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants from the US to India is not anything new.

But, why do a large number of Indians enter the US illegally and how? The story of one of the recent deportees, Jaspal Singh, a 36-year-old resident of Hardorwal village in Punjab, throws some light on the issue. He paid Rs 30 lakh to an agent who assured him a legal route into the US. Contrary to the promise, he was stranded in Brazil for six months before being forced to cross into the US illegally. Singh was arrested by the US authorities on January 24 and held for 11 days before being deported. To a newspaper correspondent, he said, “I had no idea I was being sent back to India. We thought we were being moved to another detention camp, but a police officer infor – m ed us that we were being deported…. A huge amount was spent, and much of it was borrowed. Now, everything is gone.” Another deportee, Harwinder Singh from Hoshiarpur, described the treacherous journey he undertook through multiple countries ~ including Qatar, Brazil, and Peru ~ before reaching Mexico. From there, he joined a group attempting to cross into the US. “We climbed hills, and a boat carrying us almost capsized. I witnessed people die in the Panama jungle and saw another person drown in the sea,” he recalled.

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Harwinder spent Rs 42 lakh on the journey, only to be caught and deported. The route that these illegal migrants take is known as the ‘donkey route’ or ‘dunki route’ ~ a........

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