Hoshiarpur: As the Donald Trump led US administration deported the first batch of illegal immigrants from India, the family of one of the deportees from Punjab has demanded clampdown against the 'donkey' route, the illegal pathway used by travel agents to send Indians abroad.
The batch of 104 deportees landed at Amritsar airport in a special US aircraft and included 19 women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls, aged five and seven. They were taken to their native places in police vehicles by the Punjab government.
Kuljinder Kaur, wife of Harvinder Singh, one of the deportees from village Tahli under Tanda Udmur block of Hoshiarpur, said that the travel agent had taken Rs 42 lakh from them for sending Singh to the US to earn a living there.
“I appeal to the Indian government to tighten the reins on such agents,” Kaur said.
According to Singh's family and neighbours, Singh had gone to the US about eight months ago for which the travel agent Jaskaran Singh, took Rs 42 lakh from them.
Harvinder's sudden deportation has left the family devastated. The family demanded the government to take strict action against the travel agents sending Indians abroad through the 'donkey' route.
The deportation of Indian immigrants by the US rocked the Parliament on Thursday with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar telling the Rajya Sabha that the deportation of illegal migrants by the US was “not a new development, but part of a long-standing process that has been ongoing for several years”.
"Our citizens who have been inveigled into illegal immigration themselves become prey to other crimes. They are trapped in both moving and working under inhuman conditions. Unfortunately, there have even been fatalities in the course of such illegal migration," Jaishankar told the Upper House of Parliament.
Read more:
- Deportee: 'We Came Shackled On Plane, Saw People Dying On Way To US'
- 'Process Of Deportation Is Not A New One': EAM Jaishankar On Deportation Of Indians From US
