New Delhi:
Of the 33 migrants who will reach their hometowns in Gujarat on Thursday after deportation from the US, many will come home to families that are clueless about how they reached the foreign country or why they have been deported.
Kanubhai Patel’s daughter had said she was going to Europe for a vacation with her friends a month ago. “I have no idea what she planned after reaching Europe. The last time we talked with her was January 14. We have no idea how she reached the US,” the Mehsana district native told PTI.
In Vadodara district’s Luna village, Pravin Patel awaits his niece’s return a month after she reached the US. “She lives nearby, in the same village. She got married a year ago and went to the US last month. We only know that she has been deported. We don’t know the reason behind her deportation,” he said.
Majority of the returnees from Gujarat hail from Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Patan, Vadodara and Kheda districts, sources told PTI.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal immigrants from various states landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Former deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel underlined that the fact that they had gone to the foreign country looking for a job or career, and they should not be portrayed as criminals. “They were living in the US for quite some time. They were not caught at the border. They are being sent back just because they don’t have some permissions. I urge the state government to see to it that they are not harassed, and also help them upon their arrival here,” he said.
Apart from those hailing from Gujarat, the deportees included 33 from Haryana, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
The deportees claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and they were unshackled only after landing at the Amritsar airport, a matter that became the centre of a storm in the ongoing Parliament session.
Source link
