A journey to the United States, fraught with desperation and undertaken with devious means, ends in a nightmare, leaving scars for a lifetime. In the past few days, Vibes of India has reported such aching accounts of illegal immigrants who have been humiliatingly deported to India.
One such story is that of Lovepreet Kaur, 30, a resident of the Bholath area in Kapurthala district, who wanted to secure a better life for her 10-year-old son when she embarked on a journey to the United States on January 2. According to a news agency, the family had taken a large loan, allegedly paying an astronomical sum of Rs 1 crore to an agent who promised a direct route to the US. However, she soon realised that she had walked into a trap.
Lovepreet recounted how she and a few others were forced to take a dangerous ‘dunki’ route, an illegal immigration course, through several countries. The agent’s promise of a direct route to the US was quickly shattered as they were flown to Medellin, Colombia, where they stayed for nearly two weeks. From there, they were moved to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, before walking for over three hours to Guatemala. They then travelled by taxis to the Mexican border and stayed in Mexico for two days before finally crossing into the US on January 27.
However, the journey did not end there. Upon reaching the US, Lovepreet and her co-travellers were detained by authorities. She recalled how they were made to remove their SIM cards and small ornaments like earrings and bangles, though she had nothing to hand over as she had lost her luggage in the previous country. The deportees were kept in a camp for five days, and on February 2, Lovepreet described being chained from the waist to her legs with her hands cuffed, while only the children were spared.
Afterward, Lovepreet and the others were placed on a military aircraft for a 40-hour journey back to India, during which they were not informed of their destination. Upon landing in Amritsar, they were shocked to learn they had returned to India. The realisation of their shattered dreams was overwhelming for Lovepreet, who had hoped to reunite with relatives in California and build a better life.
For Lovepreet, the journey had been about securing a brighter future for her son. Now, everything seemed destroyed. She lamented that their dreams were crushed, and instead of starting a new life, she found herself returning to a life in India with nothing but pain.
Back in India, Lovepreet and her family owned 1.5 acres of land, where they lived with her husband and elderly parents-in-law. She expressed a strong belief that the government should take action against the travel agents who deceived her and many others. She demanded that the government recover the money from these criminals, who had promised a new life but instead left families stranded and broken.
Lovepreet expressed her uncertainty about the future, saying she had hoped for the best for her son but now did not know what would happen. She could only hope for justice, so others would not have to face the same tragedy.
A police officer present at her location emphasised that her story should serve as a painful reminder of the dangers of illegal migration and the false promises made by human traffickers.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly launched an investigation into 4,200 Indians suspected of illegally immigrating to the US through the education route, involving suspicious transactions and a complex financial network of agents. This investigation was triggered by the tragic death of a family from Gujarat who had attempted to enter the US from Canada.
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