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Published : 07 Sep 2025, 01:47 AM
The story of Noakhali’s Azgar Hossain mirrors the plot of Bollywood’s "Dunki" where Shahrukh Khan and his companions set out on a perilous journey to the United States through irregular routes.
From Dhaka he flew to Brazil, then spent three months trekking through Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama’s treacherous mountains and jungles, and the infamous Darién Gap before finally setting foot on US soil. But in the end, fortune betrayed him.
Caught as an illegal immigrant, Azgar lost his money, was shackled and handcuffed like a criminal, and ultimately forced onto a plane back to Bangladesh.
After a gruelling five-day flight, US authorities dropped him and 29 other Bangladeshis at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport late on Thursday night.
The chartered Boeing 777 also carried deportees of other nationalities, all handcuffed and chained before being dumped back into their countries.
Since Donald Trump returned for a second presidential term, the US has ramped up deportation of undocumented migrants. Bangladeshi officials say at least 180 nationals have been sent back in the past six months.
Azgar, middle-aged and visibly broken, said he spent nearly Tk 5 million on the journey. He used up his savings and took out loans. Now creditors have already begun visiting his family home.
Just a year earlier, he had returned from South Africa, hoping for a better migration path. Duped by brokers, his journey began in September 2024 and ended three months later in the hands of US border police. Many others in his group, he said, dared not go home after landing in Dhaka, fearing lenders.
'DUNKI' IN REAL LIFE
Rajkumar Hirani’s "Dunki", which was released in December 2023, told the story of Shahrukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal portraying Indians trying to reach the US illegally. Their route, through Punjab to Panama’s jungles, exposed the grim realities of irregular migration.
Azgar followed the same route to California. In Bangladesh this risky trek through Latin America is nicknamed the “Tarzan visa”.
“Some people spent Tk 8 million, some 5, some 4 million,” Azgar said. “I went via Brazil, got the visa through a broker. From there, trucks and buses took us through Bolivia, Peru, Costa Rica. In Panama, it was only walking.”
At times they travelled in suffocating trucks or freezing mountains. In the jungles, they camped with only dates and dry biscuits.
“We stayed four days inside Panama’s forest,” he recalled. “We had to climb three mountains. Every climb felt like death. We saw bodies of migrants like us. Once you collapse, no one helps. No doctors, no ambulances. If you fall, you’re finished.”
Crossing Panama meant facing the Darién Gap, an infamously deadly stretch of jungle and swamp between Colombia and Panama, plagued not only by nature but also armed gangs and traffickers. According to Reuters, nearly 300,000 people crossed it in 2024, most from Venezuela.
“In the jungle you hear wild animals at night,” Azgar said. “We stayed in makeshift camps built by brokers. The place was swarming with mosquitoes.”
A DIFFERENT AMERICA
Three months after leaving Dhaka, Azgar reached California.
“In the past, if you surrendered at the border, police would take you to a camp and then release you into a city with work permits,” he said.
But things had changed. “We arrived when Biden was president, but soon after, Trump took power again. Suddenly everything stopped. They told us ‘the new president won’t allow you to stay. Everyone will be deported.’”
Instead of migrant shelters, they were sent to jail. Prison food was inedible. Families wired money so detainees could buy instant noodle soup.
“The food was worse than what you’d give a dog,” Azgar said. “We survived on noodle soup boiled in a communal oven. Months passed like that. When my family saw my face later, they wept.”
SHACKLED ON THE FLIGHT HOME
Asked about his return, Azgar’s voice rose in anger: “America calls itself the land of human rights. There is no human rights there. They value dogs more than people like us.”
“They chained our waists, tied our hands, and put us on the plane. Five days it took to reach Dhaka. They gave us some food on board, but still kept us shackled.”
From Arizona, the plane stopped in five states to collect deportees, then flew to Washington DC before heading out with hundreds of chained migrants.
DEBT AND DESPAIR
Azgar paid human smugglers Tk 3.7 million. In US detention he spent an extra $200 per month on food. Altogether, he lost more than Tk 4.5 million. His passport, seized by another broker in Noakhali, has yet to be returned. He is being asked for more money.
He had earlier spent a decade in South Africa, where worsening law and order forced him home. “Bangladeshis were attacked, shops looted, people killed. That’s why I thought America would be safer. I borrowed money, hoping for a better life.”
Now his wife, two children and elderly mother face creditors. “Some of my companions dare not return home. One borrowed at Tk 300,000 interest per month. Now he talks of suicide. Creditors are already at my doorstep.”
Would he take legal action? “I don’t even know what case to file,” he said. “The brokers promised to get me into America. They did. They didn’t promise I could stay. I went by my own choice for a better life. Getting deported, maybe that was my fate.”
OFFICIAL SILENCE
Earlier in February, 104 Indian migrants chained and deported from the US sparked uproar in India’s parliament, forcing the foreign minister to raise the matter with Washington.
But in Bangladesh, neither police nor the foreign ministry has formally responded.
At Dhaka airport, Squadron Leader Mohammad Masud confirmed: “A chartered flight brought back 30 Bangladeshis Thursday night; 29 men and one woman.”
Officials from police, the home ministry, and the US Embassy, along with BRAC’s migration programme staff, were present.
Witnesses said even after landing, deportees remained shackled for three hours while their identities were checked.
Shariful Hasan, head of BRAC’s migration programme, criticised the treatment. “Each of these men spent Tk 4 to 5 million to try to reach the US. A country can deport if documents are not in order. But to keep them in handcuffs for hours is deeply unfortunate. For migrants, this becomes lifelong trauma.
He added, “We hope future repatriations will be handled more humanely, and that US authorities take this seriously.”
