PATIALA: The half-built house of Mukhtiyar Singh in Moonak town of

once had two trucks parked outside. Now, he has none and a loan of Rs 10 lakh that he has to pay to his relatives and a local moneylender. He is in such dire straits because his son Deep Singh decided to sneak into the US through the infamous “donkey route”, only to be detained at the last Mexican border camp from where he was deported back to India last Friday, along with 311 others.

Deep (23), who graduated college about two years ago, appeared for several job interviews in private firms and even applied for a job in the armed forces and the police, but nothing happened. While luck eluded him, Deep was perturbed over the rise in drugs abuse in the state after one of his friends died of overdose in his village. “I started looking for alternatives and explored the possibility of shifting to the USA using the donkey route. I watched many videos and was aware of the dangers involved. But having lost all hope, I forced my father to sell his two trucks and seek a loan from relatives and commission agents to arrange Rs 22 lakh, so that I could reach the US and start a new life,” Deep Singh said.

Mukhtiyar said he had lost everything. “There is little hope for me. I don’t know how I will repay the loan,” he said.

Deep, who left India on June 13, said they travelled on legal documents till Mexico, taking the country out passes at Costa Rica,

,

and

. “My country out pass at

was to expire on September 6 evening, while I was to cross over the border that very morning. Seven people in my group managed to cross over to the USA, while the remaining were detained by Mexican authorities who informed us that there was massive pressure from the US government and we could not be allowed to go ahead,” he said. “Later, we learnt we were being deported back,” he said.

Deep said while coming back he saw more than 2,700 individuals, mostly Indians, in these border camps and said they were likely to be deported too. Some members of his group, whose visas are yet to expire, have taken shelter in nearby hotels and are staying in the South American country in the hope of being able to cross over the border soon. “The US has issued a shoot-in-the-foot order for anyone spotted crossing over,” he said.

Deep said it was a difficult journey in which he walked through a dense forest for five days on the Panama-Coloumbia border where three of his group members died. “I was aware of all dangers, but there was nothing there for me in Punjab,” he said, adding that there were two people from Punjab he met during the journey, one was from Rajpura and the other from

.

His father said his trucking business was also not doing well due to dismantling of truck unions by the state government and he finally decided to sell both his trucks for Rs 6 lakh each to send his son abroad. “Of the Rs 22 lakh spent, we paid Rs 16 lakh to agents, who were introduced to us by one of our relatives and the rest was spent during Deep’s journey through different countries. We would transfer the amount to his account from time to time,” he said.