Mandeep Singh was part of 112 Indians to be deported by a US military aircraft that landed at the Amritsar airport late on Sunday. He was arrested by the US Border Patrol while trying to sneak into America via Tijuana in Mexico. His travel agent put him on the ‘donkey route’ – an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter the US. The group was then made to cross the Panama jungles. For 13 days, they moved through the treacherous route that included 12 canals. Crocodiles, snakes – we had to bear all. Some were given sticks to deal with the dangerous reptiles. “We ate half-baked ‘rotis’ and sometimes noodles, as proper food was a distant thing. We used to travel 12 hours a day,” Mandeep said. The deportees’ arrived within 24 hours of a U.S military aircraft bringing back a batch of 116 Indians living illegally in that country. They were the third such batch of Indian to be sent back amid a crackdown by the Donald Trump administration against illegal immigrants.
