Mohali youth spent ₹41 lakh to reach US, deported
His family claims that he reached the US 15 days back after a seven-month journey via donkey route through Latin America and was sent back due to a lack of documentation.
The crumbling house of Pardeep Singh, 21, is a testament to the lengths some people are willing to go to reach foreign shores. Singh’s family sold farmland and gold jewellery hoping that Pardeep’s migration would bring financial relief to the debt-ridden family.
His family claims that he reached the US 15 days back after a seven-month journey via donkey route through Latin America and was sent back due to a lack of documentation.
On Wednesday, Pardeep, who is 12th passout, was among the 104 deported back to India.
His mother said Pardeep left home in June of last year.
“His father, Kulbir Singh, a farmer, stopped working three years ago after surgery and the family was struggling with mounting debts. In a desperate bid to secure a better future for their family, we sold 1.5 acres of our farmland for ₹50 lakh and gold jewellery. The hope was that Pardeep’s successful migration to the US would bring financial relief and allow us to rebuild our lives,” Pardeep’s mother Narinder Kaur said.
“He managed to enter the US only 15 days ago. The agent had promised he would reach the US within a month, but the journey dragged on for half a year. We were never told it would be through illegal means. He even had to stay in Dubai for a while,” the mother shared.
Kaur further said that Pardeep was promised a job as soon as he migrated. “There are no jobs here, so we thought moving abroad might improve our situation. We had even hoped to build a new home,” Kaur added.
“He was staying at a hotel in the US, and we had no contact with him for the last 15 days. We have not been able to contact Pardeep so far and have no idea about his whereabouts yet,” said his father Kulbir Singh.