Deported dreams: Families say they took loans, sold properties to send them abroad

The family members of a second batch of illegal Indian immigrants being deported from the US are in a state of shock, with many of them saying that they raised money by pledging farm land and cattle to send them abroad for a bright future.

- Press Trust of India

CHANDIGARH:

A plane carrying 117 illegal immigrants from the United States landed at the Amritsar airport on Saturday, the second such batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its promised crackdown on illegal migration.

The plane is expected to land at the airport late in the evening, official sources said. Of the 117 deportees, 98 are from Punjab and Haryana.

While 65 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each is from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The family of Daljit Singh, a resident of Kurala Kalan village in the Tanda area of Hoshiarpur district, said a travel agent had duped them.

Kamalpreet Kaur, the wife of Daljit, alleged that her husband was deceived by the travel agent who promised him a direct flight to the US but instead, took him via the "donkey route"—an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter America.