“No one will go to us illegally now.”

Gorbrete Singh was handcuffed, killing his legs and a series tied around his waist. It was led by the airport runway in Texas by the American border patrol, towards a C-17 military transport plane awaiting.

It was on February 3, and after a journey that lasted for months, he realized that the dream of living in America had ended. He was deported to India. “I felt that the earth was slipping away from the bottom of my feet,” he said.

Gorbert, 39, has been one of the thousands of Indians in recent years who have spent their lives and crossed the continents to illegally enter the United States across its southern borders, as they sought to escape the unemployment crisis in the country.

There are about 725,000 Indian immigrants that are not documented in the United States, the third largest group behind Mexicans and Salvadorians, according to the latest figures from PEW Research in 2022.

Gurpreeet has now become one of the first unconventional Indians who have been sent home since President Donald Trump took office, with a promise to make mass deportations a priority.

Gurpreeet aims to submit an asylum demand based on the threats he said he had received in India, but – in line with Executive order from Trump to remove people without giving them asylum -listening sessions – He said he was removed without his case being considered.

About 3,700 Indians were sent on rented and commercial trips during President Biden’s work, but the recent photos of the chains under the Trump administration have angered in India.

Us Border Patrol released the photos in a video clip online with a Coriah Bombastic soundtrack and warning: “If you cross illegally, you will be removed.”

“We sat on handcuffs and murderers for more than 40 hours. Even women were binding in the same way. The children were only only,” Gorbert told the BBC in India. “We were not allowed to stand. If we wanted to use the toilet, we were accompanied by the American forces, and only one of our handcuffs were removed.”

The opposition parties protested on Parliament, saying that the Indian deportees had given “inhumane and dominant remedy.” “There is a lot of talk about how Prime Minister Moody and Mr. Trump are two friends of Hamiman. Why did Mr. Modi allow this?” Priyanka Gandhi Fadra, the lead leader of the opposition, said.

“The Indian government should have said something on our behalf,” Gorbert said.

A spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry said that the government raised these concerns with the United States, and as a result, on subsequent flights, the deported women were not restricted and their shelters.

But on the ground, it appears that the frightening images and President Trump’s speech appear to have the desired effect, at least in the wake of this directly.

“No one will now try to go to the United States through this illegal” donkeys “while Trump is in power,” Gorbert said.

In the long run, this can depend on whether there are continuous deportations, but for the time being, many Indian people who are called “agents”, for fear of the Indian police.

The Indian authorities said the number of the agent he used when he returned home, but it was no longer possible to reach the smugglers.

“I do not blame them, though we were thirsty and we went to the well. They did not come to us,” Gorbert said.

While setting the official main number The unemployment rate is only 3.2 %It hides a more dangerous picture of many Indians. Only 22 % of workers have regular salaries, the majority work for their own account, and about the fifth are “unpaid aides”, including women working in family companies.

“We only leave India because we are forced. If I get a job, he paid me up to 30,000 rupees (270 pounds/$ 340 per month),” said Gehirreet, who has a 18 -month -old wife, mother and child.

“You can say what you want about the economy on paper, but you have to see the reality on the ground. There are no chances here to work or manage a business.”

The truck transport company in GuPreeet was among the small cash companies that were badly exposed when the Indian government withdrew 86 % of the currency trading with a four -hour notice. He said he did not receive their salaries by his clients, and he had no money to keep the work standing on his feet. He said that another small company created it and the logistics management of other companies, also failed due to Covid insurance.

He said he tried to obtain visas to go to Canada and the United Kingdom, but his requests were rejected.

Then he got all his savings, sold a plot of land he owned, and borrowed money from relatives to collect 4 million rupees (45,000 dollars/36,000 pounds) to pay a smuggler to organize his trip.

On August 28, 2024, he flew from India to Guyana in South America to start an arduous journey to the United States.

Gurpreeet pointed to all the stations she had on a map on his phone. From Guena traveled across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, most of them through buses and cars, partly by boats, shortly on a plane – was delivered from someone to another, detained and issued by the authorities several times along the road.

From Colombia, smugglers tried to transfer him to Mexico, so that he could avoid crossing the terrible Daryen gap. But the Colombian migration did not allow him to ride, so he had to take a dangerous trip across the forest.

The dense gap of the rainforests between Colombia and Panama cannot be crossed, but the Darynic gap can only be crossed on foot, and a risk of accidents, disease and attacks by criminal gangs. Last year, 50 people died crossing.

“I was not afraid. I was athlete so I thought I was going well. But he was the harshest section,” said Gorbert. “We walked for five days across the bush and rivers. In many parts, while they were going through the river, the water came to my chest.”

Each smuggled group – or “Donker” was accompanied by Gurpreeet and other immigrants, which is a word derived from the term “donkeys” used on illegal immigration trips.

At night, they were putting tents in the woods, eating a little food they were carrying and trying to rest.

“It was raining all the days we were there. We were overwhelmed by our bones,” he said. They were directed on three mountains in the first two days. After that, he said they had to follow a road that was marked in blue plastic bags associated with trees by smugglers.

“My feet started to feel shot. My nails were cracking, the comfort of my hand was peeled and they were thoroughly. However, we were lucky because we did not face any thieves.”

When they arrived in Panama, Gorbert said that about 150 others were detained by border officials in a prison -like center. He said that after 20 days, they were released, and from there it took more than a month to reach Mexico, passing through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.

Gorbert said they had waited for about a month in Mexico until there was an opportunity to cross the border to the United States near San Diego.

“We did not expand the wall. There is a mountain near it.

Gurpreeet entered the United States on January 15, five days before President Trump took office – believing that he achieved it in time, before the borders became unobtrigued and the rules became more strict.

Once he arrived in San Diego, he surrendered to the American border patrol, then was reserved by enforcing migration and customs (ICE).

During the Biden administration, illegal or illegal immigrants will appear in front of the immigration officer who will conduct an initial interview to determine whether everyone has an asylum issue. While the majority of the Indians immigrated economic necessity, some also left For fear of persecution due to their religious or social backgrounds, or their sexual inclinations.

If they wiped the interview, they were released, pending a decision on granting asylum from the immigration judge. The process often takes years, but they were allowed to stay in the United States in the meantime.

This is what Gorbere thought will happen to him. He had planned to find work in a grocery store and then enter truck transport, and he worked with him.

Instead, less than three weeks after entering the United States, he found himself driving him towards the C-17 and returning to where he started.

In their small house in Sultan Port Luddhi, a city in the northern Punjab state, Gurpreeet is now trying to find work to pay the money he owes, and motivated his family.

Additional reports by Aakriti Thapar