Last Updated:
Devinder Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Punjab’s Tanda, “It is peer pressure at work. Basically, it is copycat syndrome. They see those around them going to foreign countries and decide to join them.”
Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (left) interacts with illegal Indian immigrants deported from the US, in Amritsar on Wednesday. (PTI)
Devinder Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Punjab’s Tanda, who has interrogated some of the illegal immigrants deported by the United States (US) back to India, in an exclusive chat with News18, said many take the risk just out of peer pressure.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, marking the first batch deported under US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. A flight with 33 Gujarati immigrants, including women and children, reached Ahmedabad from Amritsar on Thursday.
“It is peer pressure at work. Basically, it is copycat syndrome. They see those around them going to foreign countries and decide to join them… The craze of going abroad is such that we can’t manage them. In some cases, their wives force them to go abroad and make money,” said Singh.
According to Singh, not all of them are going to the US in search of a better life. “Many of them own 100-acre plots here. Some are from well-to-do families that are living comfortably off agriculture.”
When asked about the status of the probe, the DSP said, “They are fragile right now, but we are in the process of taking complaints. We will interrogate travel agencies also. The central agencies are also looking at various angles,” said Singh, adding that so far two of the deportees have been found to be from Tanda.
‘SUKHPAL’s FATHER DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS IN THE US’
Mentioning one of the deportees from Tanda, Sukhpal Singh, the DSP said, “His father, too, didn’t know he was in the US.”
Sukhpal, who was among those who returned from the US on board the C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the US Air Force on Tuesday, said he was in Italy before he made his way to the United States on January 22. Sukhpal told News18 about an agent in Italy who assured him that they will take the legal route and asked him to seek work visa in the US upon landing. He also added how he didn’t foresee such an issue as the agent told him they will be going to the US by air. “We were made to enter the US from Mexico,” he added.
USBP and partners successfully returned illegal aliens to India, marking the farthest deportation flight yet using military transport. This mission underscores our commitment to enforcing immigration laws and ensuring swift removals.If you cross illegally, you will be removed. pic.twitter.com/WW4OWYzWOf
— Chief Michael W. Banks (@USBPChief) February 5, 2025
Sukhpal had left India to work in Italy and was working at a restaurant there. He said his family didn’t know that he was going to the US from Italy, adding that he was taking the step for a better future for his family. “I had two more friends in Italy and all of us decided to go to the US through this agent with the last name Gill. For the future of our families, we all left for the US,” Sukhpal said.
Sukhpal said he spent Rs 22 lakh to come from Italy to the US. “I took help from a friend and also used whatever money I had earned while working in Italy,” he said.
Harvinder Singh from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur was among those who were deported. A 45-year-old farmer, Singh said he spent Rs 45 lakh to make his way from India to the US for greener pastures. Singh left India in June and reached the US over six months later on January 15.
When asked about the deportation of illegal immigrants from the US, DSP Singh said, “There’s more to come.”
