It only took Harjit Singh a few moments to realise his American dream had been shattered.
After three months of navigating cartel-controlled highways, dense jungles, and treacherous mountain trails, he finally reached the US-Mexico border in late January.
But instead of stepping into a new life, the 22-year-old was detained and deported to India.
His journey has ended where it began, but he is now also tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
"I am broken inside … I don't see a future," Harijit told the ABC from his home in Punjab's Amritsar.
Dreaming of better life
Born in a modest village near the India-Pakistan border, Harjit spent his childhood dreaming of a better life abroad.
His father died when he was just eight, leaving his mother and two sisters struggling to make ends meet.
His maternal grandfather looked after them, but when he died Harjit had to step up.
Harjit saw families of friends who had made it in the US and were building homes and securing financial stability back in India.
He wanted the same.
"I thought I'd spent a few years there and come back be comfortable here," Harjit said.
His academic struggles and poor English skills made legal migration unlikely.
But he was determined to still go overseas.
"I didn't try going directly the legal way," Harjit said.
Instead, he turned to a risky alternative, the "donkey route", an illegal backchannel used by thousands of migrants to reach the United States.
The agent who organised it asked him for $80,000.
A perilous journey
In mid-October, Harjit set off with his cousin in a group with other illegal migrants.
Their route spanned four continents. They travelled from Delhi to Amsterdam, Johannesburg, then Guyana on a tourist visa.
From there, they moved overland through Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia.
Then came the Darien Gap, the most dangerous stretch of the journey — 97 kilometres of unforgiving jungle between Colombia and Panama, rife with bandits, drug traffickers, and deadly terrain.
"We had to trek up seven mountains as high as mansions with kit on our backs," Harjit said.
"There was a lot of danger. Once you scale a mountain, then [you] must descend it and you could slip."
Still, he pressed on.
"I was confident. I wanted to go no matter what," Harjit said.
Once they were on the other side of the jungle, they travelled through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and finally Mexico.
It was late January.
Harjit thought he was just days away from his dream.
Getting caught
Harjit had paid for a "donker" — a guide who promised them safe passage across the border.
The moment his feet touched American soil, he thought he had made it.
Then the border agents arrived.
"I fought with an officer," Harjit said.
"They locked me in a room and cranked up the AC. I was there for 24 hours. My body went blue."
After 18 days in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre, Harjit said he was fingerprinted, processed, and quickly denied asylum.
He said he was shackled, chained, and put on a deportation flight with 116 other Indians — part of a mass deportation drive under the Trump administration.
"They kept us locked like animals in a cage," Harjit said.
"I would swear on the inside. I was like f*** this. Who says this is America? America doesn't torture people like this."
Back in Punjab, his mother, Gurpreet Kaur, was devastated.
"I hadn't spoken to him for 18 days," she said.
"When I found out, I cried and screamed in pain."
She had sold inherited land and borrowed thousands from relatives to fund his journey.
Now, the agent who took their money won't even answer her calls.
"I was suspicious of the agent from the beginning," Harjit claimed.
But in his desperation to go abroad, he missed the red flags.
"You can't get rid of an idea once it takes hold over your mind," he said.
"But it's been killed now."
Trump's immigration crackdown
Harjit's flight was one of three military deportation flights that have returned 332 Indians to Amritsar since early February.
Over the weekend, a fourth plane landed in Dehli with 12 migrants aboard.
The use of military aircraft sparked a political firestorm in India, especially as images surfaced of deportees in handcuffs and chains — just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepared to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington.
India's foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, has insisted the government is engaging with US authorities to ensure deportees are treated with dignity.
But India has not objected to the deportations themselves, maintaining its official stance against illegal migration.
"With every country, and the US is no exception, we have always taken the view that if there are any of our citizens who are not here legally, if we are sure that they are our citizens, we have always been open to their legitimate return to India," Mr Jaishankar said in January.
The Pew Research Center estimates that about 725,000 undocumented Indians live in the United States, making them one of the largest migrant groups after those from Mexico and El Salvador.
Indian reports suggest nearly 20,000 more are at risk of imminent deportation.
A tale of two journeys
Not every illegal migrant gets sent back.
Surinder Kumar, a 32-year-old from Haryana, took the donkey route in 2023.
He paid an agent $60,000 and crossed into the US via Delhi, Uzbekistan, the Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, and finally through South America.
When he reached the US-Mexico border, a "donker" cut through the wall, and he walked in.
Border patrol detained him for a night and then let him go.
He now lives in California, working as a truck driver and earning $11,000 a month.
"Life is good. I have no complaints," he said.
"I had nothing in India except for loans. You can't earn this kind of money in India. Even uneducated people earn decently here.
"I made the right decision."
Surinder has a social security number, medical insurance, and a stable life.
But he has warned others about the perils of the donkey route.
"It's a road to death. If you've got destiny and luck on your side, you can make it," he said.
"There was a guy with us who wasn't going to make it. He didn't have it in him to walk for even a day. He was almost dead. You need to be strong."
Harjit, stuck in Punjab with nothing but debt, is bitter about the uneven odds.
"It's unfair," he said.
"I am happy to be back with my family, but I am also sad because I lost everything.
"We went through so much just to be sent back. I didn't achieve anything."
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to ABC's detailed inquiries.
