American dream landing Punjabi youths in US jails

■ 100 Indians, mostly from Punjab, are held at 2 immigration detention camps

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, 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.

Satnam Singh Chahal, of the North American Punjabi Association, believes that thousands of Indians, with majority of them being from Punjab, are languishing in jails in the US According to officials, around 40- 45 Indians are at a federal detention centre in the Southern American State of New Mexico while 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs and Christians, are held in Oregon

Unlike several other fellow Indians who managed to enter the US undetected, 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, Singh is now in the process of being deported back home.

The travel agent who lured him, is absconding. His family members say that so far, they have spent about Rs 47 lakh, most of them going to the agent and a portion of it for hiring local attorney to fight his case.

Singh is not alone as there are about 100 Indians, mostly from Punjab, who are held at two immigration detention centres in the Southern American State of New Mexico and Oregon after crossing the US border illegally.

According to officials, around 40- 45 Indians are at a federal detention centre in the Southern American State of New Mexico while 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs and Christians, are held in Oregon.

Satnam Singh Chahal, of the North American Punjabi Association ( NAPA), believes that thousands of Indians, with overwhelming majority of them being from Punjab, are languishing in jails in the US.