'Painful to Watch Turbans Thrown in Dustbin': Sikh Deportee Shares Harrowing Experience at US Detention Centre

New Delhi: Three flights of Indian immigrants deported from the United States have landed in Amritsar and several deportees have been sharing their harrowing experiences while crossing the border illegally. 

21-year-old Davinder Singh, a Sikh deportee, has revealed all that he had to go through at a US detention centre and how it was painful for him to see turbans being thrown in the dustbins. 

‘Painful to See Turbans Being Thrown in the Dustbins’: Sikh Deportee from Punjab

A Sikh deportee from Punjab's Hoshiarpur, Davinder Singh, who has returned to India as part of the second batch of illegal immigrants from the US, has shared his ordeal from the time he was in a detention centre in the United States. He reveals how there was no proper food, blankets were very thin and weren't of much help to shelter from the cold and articles of Sikh faith being thrown away.

Davinder Singh said, “The air conditioning was run at an extremely low temperature round the clock in the detention center in the US, and we were given only wafer-thin blankets, which could not provide any sort of protection. It was very painful watching turbans being thrown into a dustbin.”

Indian Illegal Immigrant Shares Harrowing Experience at a US Detention Centre

Davinder Singh spent 18 days in a detention centre after he was caught by the US Border Patrol after crossing the border. Davinder said they were kept in a hall with 60 to 70 illegal immigrants from various countries under the constant watch of US officials. He said the air conditioners were run non-stop at a very low temperature, and they were given thin blankets, which were even thinner than silver foil paper and one could see through them.

Their pleas for shutting off the AC or increasing the temperature fell on deaf ears. "When we would tell them we were feeling cold, they wouldn't bother at all," he said. With no proper food, Davinder said they were given a small packet of chips and a packet of juice five times a day. Besides, they were given a roll of half-baked bread, half-baked rice, sweet corn, and cucumber, he said.

As a vegetarian, Davinder said he did not eat beef at the detention centre. He said he stayed at the detention centre for 18 days and could take a bath only on two days. "I didn't comb my hair for 18 days," he said. "We were wearing the same clothes, which got dirty during the travel, for 18 days," he added. It was mentally traumatic to stay in the detention centre, he said.

Uncertain about their fate at the detention centre, Davinder, along with some other Sikh immigrants, used to recite 'Chaupai Sahib' and 'Japji Sahib' -- holy texts.

Davinder Singh Left India Last Year bin Search of Better Life

Hailing from the village of Nangal Jalalpur in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, Davinder Singh was compelled to migrate to the US for a better life; he set off on a perilous journey on June 28 last year. He was taken to several countries, including Amsterdam, Suriname, Guatemala and even traversed through the Panama forest.

Davinder said he crossed the US border on January 27, after which he and others were apprehended by the US Border Patrol. He said they were taken to a detention centre where he spent 18 of the worst days of his life. Davinder said his family spent Rs 40 lakh to send him to the US. "We are still in shock about what has happened to us," said Davinder, who studied until the 12th grade.

His father runs an electronic goods repair shop in Tanda, Hoshiarpur. When asked what he would do now after being deported, Davinder said he would join his father at the shop. He said he regretted his decision to go to the US by spending such a huge sum.

(Inputs from PTI)