‘Either go to jail or get deported’: ‘Wild story’ of Indian techie’s humiliation in US until he boarded plane goes viral

At a time when the H-1B workers in the US are facing extreme uncertainty about their future, an X post narrating the ordeal of an Indin techie in the US went viral. The X user who shared the account called it a ‘wild wild story’ as the techie of a big Indian tech company apparently was humiliated until he took his flight back home. The authenticity of the account is not verified. It’s also not known when the incident took place. According to the viral post, an Indian employee of the tech company who was on-site in the US for a project was picked up by ICE agents and was given two hours to pack all his belongings. He was given two choices: either go to jail or get deported. The techie chose the second one.The account said that he was escorted by agents and handed over to airport authorities, who were asked to ensure, by the immigration officers, that the man reached India and did not escape via Frankfurt transit. The X post said, the man was humiliated inside the plan with a public announcement that he would not be allowed to go anywhere when the flight landed in Frankfurt. In Frankfurt too, the man was escorted to his seat in the Bengaluru-bound plane and again a public announcement was made that he should get up from his seat until the flight took off. The post said his company lawyers came at the airport to receive him. The man is completely depressed, is getting counselling from the company which wants him to sue the ICE agents in the US, the post added. “Guess such stories will become normal in coming days for Indian executives in US on H1B,” the post said. Social media users asked how this was legal if the techie had all the proper and legal paperwork. Many dismissed the story as fictitious as claimed that it is not possible unless the techie lied on his resume, or was working in the US illegally and probably did not have H-1B visa. Some claimed that many companies send engineers to the US on B1/B2 visa as they are sent for on-site but B1/B2 visas have some limitations and a person is not allowed to do coding, hands-on work on these visas.