KAPURTHALA: It took Lovepreet Kaur and her 10-year-old son 25 days and Indian Rs10 million to reach the US without paperwork, only to be deported back to India.
Within weeks of her arrival, she was sent back to his native India on a military plane, with her hands and legs cuffed throughout the journey.
Singh, 30, was among 104 Indians deported by U.S. authorities that fulfils a key election pledge of President Donald Trump but is an embarrassment for India, a close partner, whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to visit Washington next week.
US authorities detained Lovepreet and then moved her and others onto a C-17 Globemaster aircraft this week for the journey back home. In a social media post, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) chief Michael W. Banks posted a video showing some men being led into a military plane in handcuffs and legs in chains.
Lovepreet, a resident of Bholath in Kapurthala district of Indian Punjab, had paid Rs10 million to an agent for a promised direct route to the United States, only to be deceived and subjected to a difficult and harrowing journey across 4 countries, according to the Indian media report.
They took the infamous ‘dunki’ route, which involved travelling to Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico before finally crossing into the U.S. on January 27 but their dreams were short-lived.
“We were kept in a camp for five days before being shackled and flown back to India on February 2,” she told India Express.
The deportation was also a financial catastrophe for her family, who had taken a massive loan to fund the journey.
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“I wanted a better future for my son. My family borrowed heavily, believing we would soon reunite with our relatives in California. Now, everything is lost,” she told to Indian Express.
She demands the Indian government to take strict action against human trafficking agents, saying “The government must act against these criminals and recover our money. They sell us dreams, only to abandon us in foreign lands,” she said.
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