‘Turbans in dustbin’, ‘wafer-thin blankets’: Sikh deportee shares how they were sent back

While sending back illegal Indian immigrants from the United States, government officials provided no proper food to the deportees and even threw the turban, an article of Sikh faith, into the dustbin. This was shared by Davinder Singh, one of the deportees, who landed in Amritsar on a US military C-17 aircraft on Saturday, February 15. 

In an interaction with news agency PTI, Davinder Singh said that he saw US officials throwing turbans into the dustbin.

"It was very painful watching turbans being thrown into a dustbin," Davinder told PTI.

Twenty-one-year-old Davinder was among the second batch of 116 illegal Indian immigrants who were brought back into India in a US military aircraft on February 15.

Davinder Singh, who hails from the village of Nangal Jalalpur in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, claims to have spent nearly ₹40 lakh to fulfil his American dream.

However, his journey to America (via the Donkey route) turned into a nightmare after he was detained in a US detention centre. He claimed that illegal Indian deportees were forced to live in “chilling temperatures” with “wafer-thin” blankets.

"The air conditioning was run at an extremely low temperature round the clock in the detention centre in the US, and we were given only wafer-thin blankets, which could not provide any sort of protection," claimed Singh, adding that he saw US officials throwing turbans of many Sikh illegal immigrants into the dustbin.

Survival on chips, juice, half-baked bread

Davinder had crossed Amsterdam, Suriname, Guatemala, and even traversed Panama, only to get caught by the US Border Patrol on January 27. Later, he was sent to a detention centre.

Describing his 18 days in a detention centre as the “worst days of his life,” Davinder told PTI that the deportees were given a small packet of chips and a packet of juice five times a day. Besides, they were given a roll of half-baked bread, half-cooked rice, sweet corn, and cucumber. Most of the deportees were able to bathe once in two days.

"I didn’t comb my hair for 18 days," he said. “We were wearing the same clothes, which got dirty during the travel, for 18 days,” Davinder added.

Illegal immigrants from US sent to India

At least three US aircraft with illegal Indian immigrants have landed in India after Donald Trump took over as the US president. According to PTI, three US aircraft, with Indian deportees from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and some other states, arrived in Amritsar on February 5, February 15 and February 16.