WITH dreams of a bright future and a better life for their families back home, youths from Haryana’s Kurukshetra district broke the bank to pay agents to help them settle in the US. They traversed treacherous routes, crossing several rivers and forests while facing extortion and getting roughed up, to reachtheUS.ButtheirAmerican Dream turned into a nightmare as they were handcuffed by US authorities and deported. Recounting the horror faced by 27-year-oldRobinHanda,his father Manjit Singh said his son travelled across Guyana, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala, crossed a sea and passed through jungles, staying hungry for days, to reach the Mexico-US border.

 

Handa, who studied till class 12, left his native Ismailabad village in Kurukshetra district on July 18 last year and by the time hereachedtheUSborder,hehad paidRs45lakhtodifferentagents whilehismobilephonewas also snatched, his father claimed. He was handed over to the “immigration mafia” in Mexico and they tortured him for money. Here he gave themRs20lakh, Singhsaid.Thedistraughtfather oftwosaidthathis elder sonhad gone to Australia for studies and the younger one was insistent on going to America.

 

With the dreams of an improved financial condition in ruins,Singhnowblamesthetravelagentfordefraudingthemwith the false promise of getting Handa settled in the US. Robin Handa was among the first batch of 104 Indians who were deported by the US. A C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US military carrying these illegal immigrants from various states landed at Amritsar airport on Wednesday, as part ofacrackdownthe DonaldTrumpadministration resolved to carry out whenitwas sworn in lastmonth.

 

Oftheseillegalimmigrants, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three eachfromMaharashtraandUttar Pradesh, and two fromChandigarh. Superintendent of Police, Kurukshetra, Varun Singla saidout of the 33 deportees fromHaryana, fourteen are fromKurukshetra district. Khushpreet Singh (18), a resident of Chammukalan villagein the district, spent Rs 40 lakhto reach the US. His fatherJaswant Singh had arranged themoney by mortgaging his farmland. “Around 15 days ago, wereceived a call from Khushpreet that he had reached the US border and would cross it soon,” hesaid. “After that, we lost communication with him.” Thefamilycametoknowabouthis deportation only when hereached Amritsar