‘When we were in jail, no one helped us’

“I became aware of certain people that were doing illegal drug transactions from here,” he explained. He said he had passed on a tip that led to the arrest of a Mexican named Sergio Lizarraga Molina at the U. S. border at Calexico, Calif.

Methamphetamine was found in a duffel bag in the trunk of Molina’s blue 1998 Ford Escort but it was less than a kilogram, and Chelliah did not get a reduced sentence, which he said had left him feeling “misled and betrayed.”

When he was finally released from prison on March 26, 2016, he was taken to the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, La. On May 17, he boarded a U. S. governmentchartered plane in Alexandria, La., for the flight to Detroit. From there, he was taken to the border and deported to Ontario.

“He is back in Canada,” said Bryan Cox, the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman for the southern region, after Chelliah was handed over to the Canadian authorities. “I’m told it was a routine removal.”

Chelliah had agreed to meet a National Post reporter for an interview at his prison but the warden would not allow it. He later stopped contacting the newspaper, which has been unable to locate him. His brother declined to comment.

IN GETTING US FROM SRI LANKA ALL THE WAY HERE, OF COURSE WE HAVE TO BE GRATEFUL TO HIM.

The migrants who were caught in Miami did not fare well. They were detained by U. S. immigration for several years before returning home. The one who spoke to the Post was held for five years and was still awaiting a decision on his U.S. asylum claim.

Asked how he felt about the smuggler, his reaction was mixed. “When we were in jail, no one helped us. When we were in the Bahamas, no one helped us. But in getting us from Sri Lanka all the way here, of course we have to be grateful to him.”

The migrant lives in New York. He has been working as a cleaner and does odd jobs to extra earn money, some of which he sends to his parents in Sri Lanka. “I also borrow money from friends to send home,” he said in an interview conducted in Tamil by Torontobased researcher Amarnath Amarasingam, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

“I don’t want my parents to know the truth, that after all they did to get me here, and after all I struggled to get here, I’m still making pennies. I want them to feel that it was worth it. My friends understand and lend me what they can.”