When a U.S. military plane touched down in Amritsar on the 5th of February, Khushpreet Singh from Kurukshetra kissed the tarmac. His six-month ordeal had ended and he could not hide his emotions on being back in his country.

 

Khushpreet is among the 104 Indians who were deported from the United States of America in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants. In August 2024, 18-year-old Khushpreet, who had studied till class 8, went to chase his American Dream. But the route he took would take him six months to reach the US via the Mexico border. The journey cost his father ₹45 lakh, most of it from loans on his land, cattle and house. Khushpreet flew from Mumbai and landed in Brazil. That's where his ordeal began. The promises, made by the agent back home in Haryana, turned out to be lies. There were no flights booked for him or the group of about 50 strangers he found himself with. Instead, they had to trek through jungles, take boat rides and climb over the hills on the U.S-Mexico border. But just as Khushpreet reached the U.S. side, he soon found himself in the custody of the U.S. border police and a deportation centre. Now back home, Khushpreet has learned the hard way that trusting visa agents, who target gullible youth, has been his biggest mistake.