It is the end of the 'American dream' for 104 Indian nationals who were deported by the US authorities for entering the country illegally. The first deportation flight carrying Indian nationals reached India on Wednesday. Thirty-five illegal immigrants from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, 31 from Punjab, three from UP, and two from Maharashtra were sent back on the US military C-17 aircraft that landed in Amritsar on Wednesday.
According to reports, most of those deported had only entered the US recently and were apprehended at the US-Mexico border. A Times of India report noted that among the 33 illegal immigrants from Gujarat was a family that spent Rs 1 crore to enter the US.
Also read:?US military C-17 aircraft carrying 104 Indian illegal immigrants lands in Amritsar
"They feel betrayed by whomever they gave money to. A Gujarati family claims to have paid Rs 1 crore to reach the US," an unnamed official told The Times of India.
This should not come as a surprise, as Gujaratis are among the largest section of Indians who have been caught attempting to enter the US illegally.
The extent of human trafficking to the US from Gujarat villages came to light in January 2022, when a four-member family from Dingucha village froze to death on the US-Canada border while trying to enter the country.
Jagdish Patel, who used to work as a school teacher, had paid lakhs to a human trafficker to take his family, which also included two minor children, to the US.
During the investigation into the Patel family deaths, it emerged that settling in the US was a matter of prestige for the residents of villages like Dingucha, and they would spend lakhs or even crores, even if that meant selling their land and other property to send a family member to America illegally.
Human traffickers who exploited this American dream lured such people with a promise to take them to the US through the Canadian or Mexican border, after first reaching these countries on visiting visas.
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