Handcuffed, legs chained: Nagpur man recounts deportation from US
Harpreet Singh Laliya, a Nagpur resident and one of the 104 Indians deported from the US, has claimed that he returned in ignominy in handcuffs and chains around his legs.
He had planned to go to Canada, but a mistake by his agent shattered his dream, said Laliya on Thursday.
He also rued the loss of Rs 50 lakh he raised from banks and kin to migrate, besides enduring gruelling treks to get to the US and the gut-wrenching uncertainty that accompanied every step.
A C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US military carrying these 104 illegal immigrants landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday. They comprise 33 people each from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
“I had gone on a Canada visa. I started my journey from New Delhi on December 5, 2024. I had a connecting flight from Abu Dhabi the next day but was not allowed to board, after which I returned to Delhi and stayed there for eight days. Then I was made to board a flight to Cairo in Egypt, from where I was supposed to go to Montreal in Canada via Spain,” Laliya told reporters.
After staying in Spain for four days, Laliya said he was sent to Guatemala, from there to Nicaragua, further to Honduras and Mexico, and then to the US border.
“I spent Rs 49.5 lakh in all. This money was taken from banks as loans and from friends and kin. I had gone on a Canadian visa and wanted to go to work in that country. However, due to my agent's mistake, I suffered this ordeal,” Laliya claimed.
The ordeal included being “caught by the mafia in Mexico and held by them for 10 days”, a four-hour mountain trek in that nation and then a gruelling 16-hour walk to the US border, he told reporters.
Speaking on the deportation, Laliya said he and 103 others were taken to a “welcome centre” and then put on a US aircraft after being handcuffed and legs chained.
