‘They asked to remove all clothes, including turban…’: US deportee from Punjab recounts horror

(Representational Image)

A United States aircraft carrying around 112 illegal Indian immigrants, deported from the US, landed at Punjab’s Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport in Amritsar on Sunday night. This was the third such flight as part of a crackdown by the US government on illegal immigration.

The latest batch of deportees consisted of 44 individuals from Haryana, 33 from Gujarat, and 31 from Punjab, with the remaining 4 hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh.

One of the troubling allegations involved the treatment of Sikh men on board the flight. Several deportees claimed that they were forcibly removed of their turbans before being flown back to India. Among the deportees was Yashpal Singh from Patti, who recounted his experience after landing in Amritsar. “We were not wearing turbans when we landed at the airport. They had removed our turbans before the flight,” The Financial Express quoted Singh as saying. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) provided the deportees with siropas, traditional ceremonial garments, to cover their heads.

In a separate case, Jaswinder Singh, a 21-year-old from Pandori Arian village in Moga district, spoke of the personal sacrifice his family endured to fund his illegal migration to the US. “We sold 1.5 kila of land, mortgaged our two-room house, and even sold our buffaloes to raise Rs 44 lakh for the agent,” he said. Speaking to The Indian Express, Jaswinder recounted his journey that began in December 2024, when he sold everything to finance his trip to the US. His path took him through Prague, Spain, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico before he crossed the US-Mexico border illegally.

Jaswinder was caught by US authorities on January 27, just after making his way across the border, and placed in a detention centre. He recalled how he was stripped of his turban upon arrival. “They asked us to remove all our clothes, including our turbans, and we were allowed to wear only a T-shirt, a lower, socks, and shoes. When we requested to keep our turbans, they refused. The authorities claimed it was to prevent us from hanging ourselves,” he added. After being detained for nearly 20 days, Jaswinder was finally allowed to wear his turban again upon arrival in Amritsar.

"We are now under a debt of Rs 44 lakh, and we have no idea how we will repay it," Jaswinder said. The agent who had promised to help him avoid detention had failed to deliver on his promises, further complicating the situation.

Jaswinder also described the harsh conditions he faced during his deportation. “Our hands and feet were shackled on the plane. We didn’t know where we were being taken, and we were kept in the dark for nearly three days,” he said. The cold conditions onboard the US military aircraft were unbearable, with the deportees given only plastic sheets to protect them from the chill.

Punjab Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who was present at Amritsar airport to receive the deportees, raised concerns over the continued mistreatment of Sikh deportees. "Some youth on the first flight didn’t have their turbans either. We raised this issue after the first flight, and we will raise it again. It is sad that despite so much attention, nothing has changed," Dhaliwal remarked.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also spoke out, advising the youth of Punjab to avoid illegal migration and take lessons from the unfortunate stories of those returning from the US.

Also Read: Haryana man struggled for 220 days, paid Rs 35 lakh, got deported 20 days after reaching US