Satpal Singh, an Indian deportee from the US, described the harsh conditions he faced in Panama and declared India the best place to live after spending ₹55 lakh in pursuit of a better life abroad.
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00:00220,000 illegal Indian immigrants in the United States as per the Department of Homeland Security's report, December 2024.
00:11One of them is with me, Satpal Singh ji.
00:15You are one of those who have returned from America, you were deported.
00:22Today, tell us how you were brought back from that journey, it is said that you were handcuffed, you were chained and brought back in that plane. Tell us what the reality is.
00:39We were brought back from there in a BDL car in Panama.
00:43We were kept in Panama for 15 days.
00:45In America, in California, we were kept in San Diego for 5 days.
00:50There, they leave so much cooling that if someone has fever, they don't listen to anyone.
00:55When we tell them that we have fever, we need medicine, please reduce the cooling.
01:00They just say one thing, I don't know, I don't know.
01:03In everything, I don't know, I don't know.
01:05If someone has fever, no matter how sick the boy is, he says, give me medicine, I need medicine.
01:11They say, I don't know, I don't know.
01:13We were kept there for 5 days and there was so much cooling.
01:18No matter how sick the boy is, they kept him there.
01:21After an hour, they would torture us.
01:23Sometimes they would give us apples, sometimes they would give us lehs, sometimes they would put us in tents, sometimes they would do something else.
01:28And the Indians there, they make a lot of mistakes with India.
01:32All the people there do it with India, they don't do it with anyone else.
01:35So, you were handcuffed during the entire plane journey, if you wanted to go to the bathroom.
01:40No, nothing like that. We were just handcuffed and taken to Panama.
01:44And when we would talk, they would say one thing, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
01:48That's all they would say?
01:49Yes.
01:51Where do you come from? Which is your village, which is your city?
01:54I am from District Ferozepur, Punjab.
01:58You left the country and became an illegal immigrant.
02:04You took a donkey route, did you go through an agent or how did you go?
02:08No, no, my agent applied for a visa for Suriname.
02:13And after Suriname, he told me, this is a good study, you will get a visa and you will go to the flight sale.
02:18When I reached Suriname, I was kept there, they opened my phone.
02:22And I didn't talk to anyone at home.
02:25After that, after 4-5 days, they gave me a phone, I talked to my family, urgently.
02:30I told my family, you go to him.
02:32He said, I will take you to number 2, I didn't want to go to number 2, I came there in number 1.
02:39So you wanted to go from number 1, from the legal route, but from the illegal route,
02:43because of the agent, the agent cheated you?
02:46Yes, he frauded me there, whatever it was.
02:49How much money did the agent take?
02:5050-55 lakhs from me.
02:52How much?
02:5350-55 lakhs.
02:5555 lakhs?
02:56Yes, 55 lakhs.
02:58So how did you collect 55 lakhs?
03:01I had 2 acres of land, I sold it to my family.
03:05You sold your land, so that you could collect 55 lakhs, so that you could go from the legal route to the US.
03:13The agent sent you through Suriname, from the illegal route.
03:16Yes, yes.
03:18So when you came back today, you have been deported.
03:23How did you, why did you leave the country for the first time?
03:27This is your land, this is your Punjab.
03:30Here, there is unemployment, when we live on the border, whenever there is a problem, it comes to our border.
03:36When there is water, we are the ones who face problems, when we live on the border, in Ferozepur, in the district of Ferozepur.
03:43So you felt that you will be able to go to the US and make a different life.
03:46Yes, yes.
03:48How many people from your village, from the city, how many people are going from Ferozepur?
03:53There are a lot of boys, some are coming after being deported, some are stuck there, some are sitting in Mexico.
03:59A lot of people are still there.
04:00Yes.
04:02Now, after this whole incident, the way people have been deported, does no one want to go after that?
04:08On this date, will you ever think of going back?
04:11Should I go from the legal route?
04:12No, never. There is no point in going out illegally.
04:15In any country, no one listens to India.
04:18They treat India as if it is an animal.
04:22So today you want to stay in India, you don't want to go back?
04:25No, I don't want to go back.
04:29What will you say to the boys from Ferozepur who had a dream of going to the US, what will you say to them?
04:37I will say that India is not a better country than India.
04:40Our India is our home.
04:45But you found out last week that before this incident?
04:52No, I had a fraud with me.
04:55I had gone because of an unemployed person.
04:57The poverty of my house, the situation of my house, I used to get very worried when I saw that.
05:02Now, I want to move forward.
05:03And when my father got sick, because of his death, he died for money.
05:10He didn't want to die for anything.
05:12He died because of money.
05:14He had kidney damage.
05:17We didn't have money, we could get dialysis done.
05:20We didn't have money to get dialysis done.
05:23My mother has a problem.
05:26She also has a stent.
05:28That's why I thought that the one who has money can get treatment.
05:31The one who doesn't have money, how will he get treatment?
05:34He will lose his motherhood.
05:36So you didn't go to the US of your own free will.
05:39You thought that if you go to the US, you will earn money there, you will be able to send money back.
05:43So that what happened to your father, it doesn't happen to any other family.
05:48I had a thought that I will go to any hospital.
05:51Because I had spent at least 2-3 years with my father in the hospital.
05:55I used to see that so many people were bedridden in the hospital.
05:58So many people were worried.
06:00Those who were illiterate, they didn't know what to do.
06:03Which war to go to, which doctor to meet.
06:05I used to go for 2-3 days like that, those who were illiterate.
06:09Like PGI, DMC hospital.
06:11I used to go to Bithinda National Hospital.
06:14I had a thought that I will help people.
06:17I will help all the poor people.
06:20I will give them good medicine.
06:23This was my thought.
06:24All the good people in India who are poor.
06:29You have told your story in a way.
06:32And there will be many such stories.
06:34Because you people are called illegal Indian immigrants.
06:38When it is said that it is illegal,
06:40That's why you people were handcuffed and brought back forcefully.
06:45You are saying that you were not going by your own will.
06:50The situation was such that you had to go.
06:53Right?
07:10There is one curse that many people like Satpal have to live with.
07:13The curse of poverty.
07:15So think about that.
07:17Because that in a sense is a reflection of the so called illegal immigrant.
07:24We wanted to give a face to the story.
07:26These are people, real people.
07:28Real Indians.
07:30And therefore deserve the same rights in many ways that any other Indian does deserve.
07:35Today when Americans say that this was their standard operating protocol.
07:39The way you were brought back.
07:42What will you say to those Americans?
07:44Or what will you say to Trump?
07:46What will you say to those who say that you are illegal.
07:50That's why you were sent back like this.
07:53You are a criminal.
07:55They were taking someone out of there.
07:58The Indians were putting someone in a camp.
08:02And the other country, the Spaniards were not put in a camp.
08:07Only the Indians were put in a camp.
08:09The ladies were not put in a camp.
08:11The two Indians, the girl from Punjab.
08:13Both of them were put in a camp.
08:15The Spaniards, at least 4-5 Spaniards were not put in a camp.