Shackled Dreams

If you are rich, you are seen off with envious eyes to a new land and a brighter future. If you are poor, you are a criminal, especially if you come back in chains

- RAJEEV NARAYAN

"Ending illegal immigration means wages would have to rise to a level where legal Americans would take up jobs given to illegal aliens." - Thomas Sowell

Last week, we saw images that shamed and inflamed us. We saw a US military cargo aircraft used for emergencies in disaster areas and war zones shunting illegal Indian immigrants back home. Those on board had already been strip-searched in another land-of their clothes, illicit hopes, far-fetched dreams and impossible fantasies. Clothed again, the 104 inmates were shackled and manacled like hardened criminals. It was a sorrowful, pitiable sight. It was also a damning indictment of a bigger problem-the desperation and lust for a rich life that saw them leave their homes, illegally, in pursuit of a dream...one that had a nightmarish end.

Many learned viewers asked questions-why did these people sell their land, take on huge debt and risk their lives? The answer is neither simple nor comforting. It is a tale of human resilience, greed and deception, born and bred in a system that exploited yesterday's hope and created today's helplessness. It also bespoke the failure of their last-ditch clawback for a better life.

Many 'illegals' on this C17 aircraft, especially those from Punjab and Gujarat, had opted for the 'danki' route-an underground network of smugglers, agents and corrupt officials who offer the carrot of an illicit backdoor into the US, the so-called land of dreams. The danki caper had passed through South and Central America, with treacherous and life-threatening crossings in jungles, rivers and deserts, before they eventually reached the US-Mexico border. Once there, many relied on human traffickers (known as 'coyotes') to usher them across.