Gujarat illegal migrants let off by US court, with advice

AHMEDABAD: Six illegal immigrants from Gujarat who nearly drowned while trying to cross the St Regis river along the US-Canada border on April 28 were exempted from criminal proceedings by a New York district court on Tuesday with a piece of advice from the judge: "Tell people in your home country about the difficulties you faced and urge them not to use illegal means to travel to the US."
Amit Patel (22), Dhruv Patel (22), Neel Patel (19), Urvesh Patel (20), Saavan Patel (19) and Darshan Patel (21) told district court judge Gary L Favro that four of them were headed to Chicago while one was to move South Carolina and another to Georgia.
The young men, only two of whom have studied beyond Class 12, said they had a brush with death while attempting the river crossing just before border cops cut short their journey.
"The human smugglers don't care about you; they only care about your money...People should follow the legal immigration procedure to arrive in the US," Favro, federal magistrate judge of New York's Northern District, replied.
TOI had reported on May 9 how the group of six almost met the fate of a four-member family from Dingucha village of Gandhinagar district that froze to death in -35 degrees Celsius while trying to cross the Canada-US border on foot last January.
On April 28, Akwesasne Mohawk police service notified the St Regis Mohawk Tribal police department about intercepting a boat moving from Canada towards the US and rescuing six Gujaratis just as they were about to drown in the St Regis river.
All six men pleaded guilty of attempting to enter the US illegally.
At which the public prosecutor representing the US government requested the court to spare them punishment for unauthorised entry as they had no prior criminal record and hadn't used violent means to enter the country.
The prosecutor said the onus was on the court to let them off without any financial penalty or half the stipulated fine.
All six had already spent 24 days in jail before their case came up for hearing.
Saavan turned a government witness against one Bryan Lazore, who was charged with "alien smuggling", a felony under the Alien Act that deals with illegal immigration in the US. Based on the reprieve granted by judge Favro, the six men are to be deported back to India after completion of legal formalities.