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Indian Deportees Return Home Amid Anger Over US Treatment
104 Indian immigrants deported from the US, including Harvinder Singh, face uncertain futures after being shackled during the journey back. Families express anger and disappointment.
ND
by News Desk
2025-02-07
Indian Deportees Return Home Amid Anger Over US Treatment

Kulvinder Kaur anxiously awaited news of her husband, Harvinder Singh, who had entered the US illegally in search of a better life. Her worst fears materialized when she saw a news telecast about a mass deportation of 104 Indians by the Trump administration. Singh was among them.

Like many deportees, Singh's journey back to India was harrowing. Cuffed and shackled throughout the 40-hour flight, he was treated more like a criminal than a desperate migrant seeking opportunities abroad.

Outrage Over US Treatment

The visuals of shackled Indian deportees boarding a US military aircraft sparked anger in India. Opposition leaders, led by Rahul Gandhi, staged a symbolic protest outside parliament, condemning the treatment.

Former Indian diplomat Anil Trigunayat called the practice "inhuman" and "unjustified," while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar acknowledged that the US had followed its long-standing operating procedures for deportation.

Despite assurances that women and children were spared from restraints, reports emerged contradicting this. Khusboo Patel, a 35-year-old from Gujarat, described being shackled throughout the journey, confined strictly to her seat.

A Broken Dream

For Singh and Kaur, the challenges are just beginning. With over $55,000 in debt from loans taken to pay agents, the family faces an uncertain financial future.

“We were cheated by an agent and sold our farmland to send him to the US,” Kaur said. “Now we don’t know how we’ll recover from this debt.”

Vinod Kumar, a sociologist specializing in diaspora politics, notes that such risky migrations are driven by dreams of a better life but often end in devastation. “Many deportees come from lower-income families and now face shattered careers both at home and abroad,” he explained.

A Need for Change

As deportees like Singh return to a reality they hoped to escape, there is a growing call for the government to address the root causes of illegal migration and negotiate more humane treatment for citizens abroad.

For now, Singh and Kaur must pick up the pieces and start afresh, burdened by debt and haunted by a painful journey home.

 
Tagged:

HumanRights

USImmigration

IndianDeportees

ShackledDreams
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