On Wednesday afternoon, a US military plane carrying 104 Indian nationals who had been deported touched down at Amritsar airport.
Many of the deported Indians had barely reached the Mexico-US border last month or towards the end of December, according to The Indian Express, which consulted several of the deported Indians as well as police sources.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 deported Indian nationals landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Of the 104, 30 were from Punjab and 30 were from Gujarat. At least 15 individuals from Gujarat and Punjab were detained at the Mexico-US border while they allegedly tried to enter the US, amid increased border controls under President Donald Trump’s new administration.
For instance, Pardeep Singh, 21, of Mohali’s Jurait village, ran away from home six months ago and managed to reach the US-Mexico border before being apprehended two weeks ago after spending Rs 42 lakh.
Likewise, Jaswinder Singh (30) from Kahanpur village in Fatehgarh Sahib fled in October of last year and reached the border on January 15 after paying Rs 50 lakh. Amrit Singh, 18, who lives in the village of Ahru Khurd in Patiala, left eight months ago and reached the border in mid-January. Both were taken at the border.
Deported Punjab residents also included 36-year-old Jaspal Singh from Hardowal village in Gurdaspur, who was arrested on January 24 at the Mexico-US border after spending Rs 30 lakh in Brazil for six months; 40-year-old Harwinder Singh from Tahli village in Hoshiarpur, who spent Rs 42 lakh and arrived at the US border on January 15; 21-year-old Muskan from Jagraon in Ludhiana, who had travelled to the UK last year on a study permit but tried to enter the US through its border with Mexico and was arrested on January 15; and two more from Rajpura and Patiala city, who had left last year but were arrested at the US border last month.
Women were among those held at the border. Lovepreet Kaur used a Schengen visa to enter Mexico legally before attempting to cross the border into the United States after she and her little son left Bhadas village in Punjab’s Kapurthala district on January 1 to visit her husband. She was arrested by US authorities on January 27 and deported on February 5 after spending approximately Rs 1 lakh.
A 29-year-old lady from Vadodara who had visited the city in early January was also taken out. “She told us everything was in order,” her mother said. We only found out about her return a few days ago due to her deportation, and we had not spoken to her for a few days. All we can say is that we’re glad she made it home safely.