Over the last several months, 19-year-old Nishant Kumar travelled to 16 countries before finally managing to enter the United States through its border with Mexico on January 13, only to be held by border patrol as soon as his group reached San Diego in California.
A resident of Haryana’s Sonipat, Kumar is among the 104 illegal immigrants who were deported by the US government and sent to Amritsar in Punjab on a US military plane Wednesday.
Like the other immigrants who entered the United States illegally, Kumar had only one thing on his mind: the hope of a better life in a foreign land.
“It was my dream to go and live in America. I wanted to work as a truck driver there… I knew that people who go there can also work as storekeepers. My friends and relatives who had gone earlier were earning very good money,” he told The Indian Express. “One of my very close relatives is working and living there… He told me life is wonderful there. I wanted to live that life”.
Kumar’s father is a farmer who “grows sugarcane, wheat and rice on his six killa (almost an acre)” land. The youngest of four siblings, he has three older sisters. “My father knew that I was very keen to go. He helped…I wasn’t the first to go from my area. My father knew that. It wasn’t an issue.”
2 failed attempts
A known ‘dunki’ agent from Karnal was recommended to him and in May last year he started speaking to the agent, he said. ‘Dunki route’ refers to unauthorised and risky ways of entering the US that usually involve travelling through several countries using various modes of transport.
“On May 27, I started my journey. My agent sent me to Dubai with a promise to send me ahead in a week but I had to stay for a month in Dubai. My visa expired and I had to stay another 11 days till my agent brought me back. I had to pay a fine there,” Kumar added. “I was very upset. My first attempt had failed. The agent, however, insisted that he would succeed in sending me to the USA.”
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He said the ‘dunki’ agent contacted him again in July. “On July 11, I went to Sri Lanka. I stayed there for 12 days waiting for a way to head towards the USA. I had to return because the agent couldn’t make an arrangement.” By then, he had lost hope and wanted to change the agent. “But the agent was adamant. He promised that he would send me somehow,” Kumar added.
To Amsterdam, then across South America
On September 6, he was finally sent to Guyana with a group of 13 other men from India, he stated. “We went through Amsterdam and Port of Spain to arrive in Guyana.” He said he stayed in Guyana for 15 days, from where they were sent to Brazil in two taxis. “We were all led by a man from Guyana,” he said.
“After staying in Brazil for three days, we were sent to Bolivia in two buses. There, we found another group of people who were also en route to the USA,” Kumar said, adding that after staying there for two days, their ‘dunki’ agent took them to Peru in another set of buses.
Kumar said that while staying in Bolivia, his passport was taken away by the ‘dunki’ agents and their associates. “After staying in Peru for a day, we were sent to Colombia via Ecuador in another set of buses,” he said.
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“We stayed in Columbia for three months,” he recounted. They were told that they would have to walk and travel in boats to reach Panama. “It took us a week to cross the border of Columbia and enter Panama.”
“In our group, there were people from Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. We crossed several forests and vacant lands, surviving on biscuits and fruits during those days,” Kumar said.
From Panama, they reached Costa Rica where they stayed for a day. “Here we were given a bus to reach Nicaragua. Staying there for a few days, we were sent to Honduras in buses,” Kumar said.
From Honduras, an agent took them to Mexico. “There, I was given a Nepali passport and ID and sent to Tijuana on a flight,” he added.
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“After staying at the Tijuana border for a day, we were sent to San Diego on January 13. Our agent told us that as soon as we crossed the border, the San Diego Police would conduct a check on us and then we would be allowed to go but we were kept at a detention centre,” he said.
Kumar said that to enter San Diego, they had to walk 15 miles. “The cars dropped us at the border from where he had to walk,” he said.
He further said that earlier those who went to the USA via the ‘dunki’ route would stay in detention for three-four days. Instead, they were kept under detention for 21 days.
“There was nobody there (at the detention centre) to listen to us. They would give us food five times a day, and the officers would take our attendance thrice a day,” Kumar said. They were given silver foil blankets to protect themselves from the cold.
During their stay at the detention centre, Kumar would often imagine that he would be released one day. “We used to think that we would be released someday and work in the USA… But on February 2, we were told that we would be sent back to India.” The US Border Patrol sent all 104 illegal immigrants to Texas in a bus from where they were flown to India.
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“They chained our hands, legs and waist during the flight. We stayed in the flight for around 55 hours and the chains were removed an hour before landing in India,” he said.
During his journey, Kumar was, however, able to film his activities on his mobile phone and even created a YouTube channel titled ‘Dunkey Ki Asli Shuruaat Kahan Se’. “I made it for fun, not knowing what would come of it,” he said.
Now with his family in Sonipat, Kumar mentioned that during his travel across 16 countries, his father paid Rs 45 lakh in instalments to the agent in India. Asked if he would consider going to the USA again, his reply was clear: “Never.”