US immigration crackdown sparks anxiety in Doaba

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 22

Twenty-eight-year-old Manjit Singh (name changed) from Raipur Peer Bakshwala village in Kapurthala district was asked to leave USA with immediate effect on Wednesday.

He had left for USA in December 2015 after paying around Rs 32 lakh to a Jalandhar-based travel agent by selling his small chunk of land and mortgaging his house.

He also spent another Rs 5 lakh in his gruelling journey to USA via Mexico. Though he managed to reach the US after four months, he had to struggle another six months to get a car cleaner’s job. It was only recently that he had begun to send money home.

His wailing mother Kuldeep Kaur (name changed) told The Tribune that it had taken the family six years to send him to the US. The family spent all of its fortune hoping that Manjit would be able to recover the amount after a few years.

“Also, we did not get him married hoping that it would end his prospects to settle down in the US. US President Trump’s decision has left us in a lurch. My son is not qualified to find a decent job here and we don’t even have land now to earn a living. What will he do and how will we survive?” said the worried mother.

Another old man in the village, Ranjit Singh, was found upset at the recent crackdown.

“My son has been languishing in a detention centre for over a year. With the recent announcement, all our hopes have been shattered,” said Ranjit who suffered a paralytic attack few months ago. The family is surviving by selling milk to villagers.

Khassan village in Bholath constituency too will be hit as around 500 youths from here are staying illegally in the US.

“Unlike other places, illegal immigrants from Doaba are not IT professionals and mainly are poor peasants from Dalit families. After the announcement, their families have been approaching me to raise the issue with the state government,” said Dr KS Kang, Sarpanch, Khassan.

Daljit Singh, a Jalandhar-based immigration consultant, said Kapurthala mainly consists of the Lubana community which began to migrate to European countries in the 1950s. Even though they were illiterate and poor, they began to spread out to other countries including the USA.

“A majority of them were illiterate and semi-literate labourers from agricultural or military backgrounds. The second, very small group was of educated professionals and students. The labourers were mainly peasant Sikhs and some Muslims from Doaba,” said Daljit Singh, adding that around 90 per cent of the community prefers to migrate to the USA.

He said immigration from the region reached a high after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as the majority of them were granted political asylum. “Though USA is not a favourite destination for students, it was a dream place for illegal migrants,” added Singh.

Satnam Singh Chahal, Executive Director of US-based North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), hailed Trump’s move to weed out illegal immigrants from the US. But he urged the US Government to take a humanitarian view on the issue.