‘Our legs were chained, and hands were also cuffed,’ claims deportee who arrived in second batch from US

Daljit Singh, who arrived in Amritsar Saturday night after being deported from the US, described a disturbing journey. The Hoshiarpur native claimed that he and the other 115 deportees were handcuffed and their legs chained during the entire flight. They were among the Indian nationals who had returned on a US aircraft.

“Our legs were chained and hands were also cuffed,” Singh told, PTI reported.

Singh, a native of Kurala Kalan village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, was among 116 illegal Indian immigrants who were brought back in a US aircraft that landed at the Amritsar airport on Saturday night.

According to Singh’s wife, Kamalpreet Kaur, a travel agent, allegedly tricked Singh’s husband by promising him a direct trip to the United States but instead led him down the donkey route.

According to her, a man from their community had arranged for a travel agency to make Singh’s trip easier. The agent took Singh through several sites after promising to bring him to the US lawfully, casting doubt on the validity of his trip.

The C-17 aircraft that landed around 11:35 pm on Saturday marked the second batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants.

After completing immigration and background checks, the deportees, primarily from Punjab, were transported to their homes in police vehicles around 4:30 am on Sunday.

The C-17 aircraft, which landed at the airport around 11.35 pm on Saturday, was the second batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants after February 5.

A third plane carrying 157 deportees is expected to land on Sunday, sources said.

Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Power Minister Harbhajan Singh met some of the deportees at the airport on Saturday night and said the state government stood by them like a rock.