Of the American deportees reached the Amritsar airport around midnight last night, 10 belong to Hoshiarpur district. Five of them were from Tanda. They were brought to the DSP office, Tanda, from where they were handed over to their families in the presence of MLA Jasvir Singh Raja and DSP Davinder Singh Bajwa.

The atmosphere in the DSP office, Tanda, became emotional when the five deportees reached there and met their families, everyone's eyes welled up with tears. These include Daljit Singh of village Kurala, Harmanpreet Singh of village Chauhana, Harpreet Singh of Mohalla Barandari Tanda, Davinder Singh of village Nangli (Jalalpur) and Manpreet Singh of village Miyani.

MLA Jasvir Singh Raja said the government was with the youths and they would get justice. He said strict action would be taken on the instructions of the Chief Minister against the travel agents, who illegally sent them to America by taking lakhs of rupees from them. He said the agents charged lakhs of rupees from them and pushed them to the brink of death.

An agent even got five acres of land of Kurala resident Daljit registered in his name, which is worth about Rs 1 crore. The youths said how if someone fell into a ditch or became sick and injured on the way, he was left there to die. At many places, these people saw bodies and human skeletons lying there.

The MLA said these youths were being sent home but at the same time they had been directed to record their statement within five days so that it could be known who were the travel agents and strict action could be taken against them.

The youths spoke about their pain and difficulties. Daljeet, a resident of Kurala, said after taking away lakhs of rupees and five acres of land to send him to US by plane, the agent arranged a donkey to pass through the jungles of Panama. He was made to cross the border from Tijuana city of Mexico about two months ago. After crossing the border he was arrested and from there he was taken to a detention camp where he was somehow surviving in the severe cold.

He said even after his arrival, about 500 more Indians were locked up in the camp who were to be sent back. He said as food he was given only a little chips, peas, sometimes a little rice and water. Daljeet said he was sent from America in a military plane with handcuffs, shackles and chains tied around his waist. Daljeet appealed to the government to get his land back.