India probing rogue agents who helped citizens enter US illegally

Denied work visas by Canada, Britain and Sweden, retired Indian army serviceman Mandeep Singh turned in desperation to an immigration agent who promised to help him enter the United States.

- Nirmala Ganapathy

Denied work visas by Canada, Britain and Sweden, retired Indian army serviceman Mandeep Singh turned in desperation to an immigration agent who promised to help him enter the United States.

Mr Singh, 38, claims that the agent assured him that he would be able to enter the US legally for a hefty fee of four million Indian rupees (S$61,700).

"I sold my wife's jewellery and put in my life's savings from the army," said the father of two from the northern state of Punjab, who hoped to provide a better life for his family.

His American Dream, however, ended in chains and shackles before it even began.

He was among 332 Indians who were deported on three military flights from the US between Feb 5 and 16 for entering the country illegally.

The high-profile crackdown by US President Donald Trump since he assumed the presidency on Jan 20 has seen thousands of illegal immigrants repatriated or sent to third countries like Panama.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to take back all illegal immigrants verified as Indians, but the return of Indian immigrants shackled and chained in February has brought attention to the long-standing issue of illegal emigration out of India.

This has triggered investigations in India into the network of agents such as the one Mr Singh paid.

Most of the 332 deported Indians were from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat, where steady emigration to the West has taken place since the 1960s.

At least six agents have been arrested and some two dozen police cases have been filed in Haryana and Punjab.

But investigations have been slow, as many deportees are refusing to name their agents out of fear, or in the hope of getting some of their money back.

The police cannot launch an investigation into rogue agents without a complaint by a victim.