Representative image of a border.
Credit: iStock Photo
A US military aircraft brought back 104 illegal Indian immigrants last week, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Of these deportees, 33 were from Haryana and Gujarat each, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
One such deportee narrated his story of how he was on his way to the US through "dunki" route but was caught by the American patrolling within 5 minutes.
As per a report by The Indian Express, Akshay from Haryana's Kharar village after returning to India filed a complaint against three travel agents who had promised to send him to the US.
The report has identified the agents named: Deepak Malik, Rajat Mor and Munish Sharma.
"The agents told me that they would charge Rs 35 lakh to send him to the USA legally by air. They said that first I would be sent to Dubai and then to America through a flight directly on a work visa," Akshay said, as reported by the publication.
He stated that he spoke to the agents in June last year. After his stay in Dubai got extended for a month, the agents asked Akshay to cough up Rs 30 lakh more in order to send him to America.
Akshay's family gave them the required amount, but he was kept in Suriname for another 20 days.
"Then, my illegal travel on a bus was arranged for America but the agents kept telling my family that I was being taken to the US via a flight. They also sought Rs 20 lakh more from my family which they arranged from an arhtiya (commission agent at a market) on November 28, 2024 and gave the money to them," IE quoted Akshay as saying.
He was then helped by the mafias to enter America from Mexico on January 25, but was caught within five minutes.
As per the report, investigation against the agents is under way.
(With PTI inputs)