Donkey route, months in jail: 53 US deportees from Haryana land in Delhi

KArnal: A flight of stairs carrying 53 residents of Haryana who had been deported from the US for allegedly staying illicitly landed at the new delhi airdrome on sabbatum night, an official aware of the matter said on Sunday. The official added that all 53 had been handed over to their family members.The latest flight comes nearly 10 months after the deportation of more than 300 Indians in three US military flights had caused a controversy, as women and children too were handcuffed and put in shackles, and the matter was subsequently taken up by the Indian side with US authorities. In July this year, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said that the US had deported a total of 1,563 Indian nationals since January.According to officials familiar with the matter, the latest flight had residents of Haryana—16 from Karnal district, 14 from Kaithal, five each from Ambala and Kurukshetra, four from Yamunanagar, three from Jind, and one each from Rohtak, Panipat, Panchkula, Fatehabad, and Sonepat districts. The official added that the home district of one of the deportees had yet to be ascertained.“The men were transported via buses from the airport and brought to respective districts by sleuths of Chief Minister’s Flying Squad on Sunday morning and were handed over to their family members after documentation,” an official said, adding that most of those deported went illegally through “donkey routes”.Confirming the arrival of the 14 Kaithal residents, DSP Lalit Yadav said: “They all went to the US in search of work and were captured by the authorities for illegal stay. One of the men, a resident of Taragarh village, was booked in a case under Excise Act and skipped court appearance. He will be presented before a court for further action.”Naresh Kumar, one of the deportees from Kaithal who took the dunki route, said his American dream got shattered even after spending ₹57 lakh, and he had to languish in US federal jail for 14 months.Kumar said that he sold his agricultural land for ₹42 lakh, arranged ₹6.5 lakh after his brother sold a piece of land, took loan worth ₹6 lakh and took ₹2.50 lakh loan from relatives, to settle abroad. “I first paid ₹42 lakh to the agent, who sent us through the dunki route via Panama and had to pay the rest of the amount at various intervals on the way. Even after taking so much pain for two months and six days to reach the USA, I was among the unfortunate men who were deported,” he added.In May, the US state department announced visa restrictions on owners and officials of travel agencies in India who knowingly facilitated illegal immigration to the United States, the latest in a series of steps by Washington aimed at tackling the issue.A majority of the deportees are from Punjab and Gujarat, sent abroad on the so-called “donkey routes” by travel agents.Karnal DSP Sandeep Kumar said that the deportees have not submitted any complaint against any agent so far.Karnal SP Ganga Ram Punia said that one man had a past criminal case related to electricity theft, which is under trial and he was out on bail.Officials aware of the matter also confirmed a criminal case under Arms Act against the Sonepat resident.