NEW DELHI, Feb. 10 -- The C-17 Globemaster III, a US military transport plane-a symbol of both American power and shattered Indian dreams-touched down in Punjab's Amritsar on February 5. Its massive frame contrasted sharply with the fragile hopes it carried.

Numerous faces, mostly in their 20s and 30s, etched with the harsh realities of a gamble gone wrong, emerged onto the tarmac-deportees from the United States, their pursuit of the American dream ending not in triumph but in a crushing return.

These individuals, primarily from Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat, carried a weight not just of luggage but of hope-painstakingly built, then brutally shattered by those who promised to make it a reality. A Tribune report revealed the shocking det...