‘We drank sweat squeezed from shirts’: Young Indian migrants reached Jungles to Mexico

‘We drank sweat squeezed from shirts’: Young Indian migrants reached Jungles to Mexico

Over 300 young migrants from Punjab and Haryana reached Mexico in a journey that lasted months, only to be deported and sent back to India by Mexican authorities on Friday, defying illegal trafficking cartels, illness, thirst, and a torturous jungle trek through the Darien Gap in Panama.

Approaching the visa agents who demanded an amount of Rs 15-20 lakh each, the men, largely from agricultural families without jobs or prospects, left their families behind after watching videos. He heard about people who had successfully managed to reach the US, which was meant to be their final destination too.

As per reports, Sevak Singh, 26-years-old, a farmer from Jalandhar left India on 29th July said, he watched videos on YouTube of the journey. It didn’t seem so terrifying; he had no idea that they have to walk in a jungle, without food or water. The 311 men landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International IGI Airport on Friday after Mexico deported them for illegally entering the country and trying to cross over the US from there.

The easy part was the man said finding visa agents. Deep Singh, 23, a farmer from Sangrur said, many of their friends are now still in the US. In Jalandhar, there are also many WhatsApp forwards meant to sell this idea to young men.

He further added the only thing they need to do is each one of them needs his photo. They just had to go to Delhi from Punjab and then got tickets which had details where to go.

One man who didn’t wish to be identified said, after a fight to Ecuador, the men were transported by road or flight to Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Honduras and finally Mexico. They spent weeks in cheap hotels, passing one immigration check after another. Five to six people carrying guns would accompany them at several points in the destination.

Sonu, 22, a graduate from Kurukshetra University said the terrifying journey that awaited them at Panama, where they were told to trek by themselves for five-seven days through a dense jungle. For three consecutive days, they did not even drink a drop of water. They squeeze out sweat from shirts and drank sweat. There was no food and a lot of them fall sick.

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