New Delhi: A 40-year-old man from Mehsana, who had entered the United States through illegal ‘donkey’ routes and lived there undocumented for years, was arrested at Delhi’s IGI Airport after attempting to return to India on a forged passport.

Originally from Jagudan village, he had first flown to Vietnam in 2018 on a valid passport and spent 15 months navigating illegal routes before reaching Atlanta. There, he worked odd jobs while living without documents. Fearing deportation amid the crackdown on undocumented migrants during Trump’s second presidency, he procured a fake passport issued in 2020 under the identity of a Himachal Pradesh resident to facilitate his return.

However, his plan backfired on September 8 when immigration officers at IGI Airport flagged the passport as fake. He was arrested and booked under Sections 318(4), 319(2), 336(3), and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 12 of the Passport Act. DeshGujarat