'We were handcuffed', claims deportee who arrived in second batch from US

Chandigarh: Daljit Singh, who was among the deportees who reached Amritsar from the US on Saturday night, on Sunday claimed they were handcuffed with their legs chained during the journey.

"Our legs were chained and hands were also cuffed," Singh told reporters in Hoshiarpur.

Singh, a native of Kurala Kalan village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, was among 116 illegal Indian immigrants who were brought back in a US aircraft that landed at the Amritsar airport on Saturday night.

Replying to a question, Singh said he was taken through the 'donkey route' -- an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter the US.

Singh's wife Kamalpreet Kaur alleged that her husband was deceived by a travel agent who promised him a direct flight to the US but instead took him via the donkey route.

She said a man from their village had arranged for a travel agent to facilitate Singh's journey. The agent assured to take him to the US legally but later he was taken through multiple locations, raising suspicions about the legitimacy of his travel.

The C-17 aircraft that landed around 11.35 pm on Saturday was the second batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants.

After immigration and background check, the deportees hailing from Punjab were taken to their homes in police vehicles at around 4.30 am Sunday.

The Haryana government also made transportation arrangements for the deportees from the state.

Many from the first batch of illegal immigrants who landed here on February 5, most of them from Punjab, said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families, but were duped by their agents.

Their dreams were shattered when they were caught on the US border and sent back in shackles.

Of the fresh batch of deportees, 65 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, two each from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Most of them are aged 18 to 30, as per the sources.

A third plane carrying 157 deportees is expected to land at the Amritsar airport on Sunday, sources said.