For many, American dream proves costly

Washington, June 22: Chasing the American dream, Bunty Singh (not his real name) illegally entered the US after crisscrossing several countries, but landed in an immigration detention centre in New Mexico where he has been languishing for the last 16 months.

Hailing from a middleclass family of Jalandhar, Mr Singh, whose father is in Punjab Police and mother a housewife, left his hometown more than two years ago.

Lured by a local travel agent with the promise of being taken inside the US, it took him several months, crisscrossing several countries, before he tried to sneak into the US through the Mexico border near El Paso in Texas.

Unlike several other fellow Indians who managed to enter the US undetected, Mr Singh was nabbed soon thereafter. Since then, he has been under detention.

Having spent last 16 months at the federal detention centre in Otero, New Mexico, Mr Singh is now in the process of being deported back home.

The travel agent who lured him is absconding. His family members say that they have spent about `47 lakh so far, most of them going to the agent and a portion of it for hiring local attorney to fight his case. Nothing has been of any so far as his argument that he wants “political asylum” in the US “because minority Sikhs are being persecuted by majority Hindus” has failed to convince the American judges. — PTI