An unprecedented number of Indian immigrants are entering the US through the US’s southern border, new federal statistics show – 42,000 were intercepted last year alone.
The figure, announced by US Customs and Border Protection last month, is more than double the same period last year, when border crossings by Indians were already at a record high.
In addition, an additional 1,600 people have crossed the northern border as the phenomenon grows – four times as many as in the last three years combined.
Almost all of them turn themselves in to the border police, who then treat them as asylum seekers due to the recent unrest surrounding the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India.
Since 2007, the total number of annual illegal border crossings from India has exceeded 5,000 only four times.
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An unprecedented number of Indian immigrants are entering the US through the US’s southern border, new federal statistics show – 42,000 were intercepted last year alone
CBP’s total number of encounters along the border last year was more than 2 million, meaning migrants from India made up just under 2 percent of that sample
A range of other factors, including political and socio-economic factors, have since led to this significant increase, which has also been reinforced by records from other population groups.
CBP’s total number of encounters along the border last year was more than 2 million, meaning migrants from India made up just under 2 percent of that sample.
The total, which covers the fiscal year beginning last October, includes about 210,000 arrests last month alone – the highest number in all of 2023.
The monthly record number brought the total number of migrant encounters in the fiscal year to 2.48 million – for the first time in history – up from 2.38 million in 2022.
At the time, 2.38 million was a world record but has since been surpassed as asylum seekers such as Sikh devotee Arshdeep Singh continue to enter the country.
Singh, a 23-year-old from Punjab who spoke to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday about his trip to the US, spent 40 days emigrating to the US this summer.
Instead of being arrested while evading capture, he turned himself in and applied for asylum – a request he was granted before he arrived in Fresno, southern California.
He recalled to the newspaper how he was threatened by men he believed to be linked to India’s ruling Hindu party before his father made arrangements for his departure – adding to the current humanitarian crisis at the border worsened.
But “coming here turned out to be as dangerous as it was for me to stay in Punjab,” the young man said – before describing the detour he took to get into the country.
In a clip shot late last month, more than a dozen men who appeared to be Indians were filmed illegally entering the U.S. at an unspecified point along the southern border while chanting Hindu religious slogans such as “Jai Shri.” Ram” and “Jai Bajrang bali” chanted.
Other similar clips from the past year do much of the same thing – showing the increasing number of Indians flocking to the US amid political discussions in their own country
The figure, announced by US Customs and Border Protection last month, is more than double the same period last year, when border crossings by Indians were already at a record high
In addition, an additional 1,600 people have crossed the northern border as the phenomenon grows – four times as many as in the last three years combined
Almost all of them turn themselves in to the border police, who then treat them as asylum seekers due to the recent unrest surrounding the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India.
The nationalist policies of the country’s pro-Hindu prime minister are responsible for the recent rise in numbers.
This and the success stories of those who have already made the trip – now widely shared on social media – have fueled the surge. Footage emerges almost daily showing men and women making different journeys to get to America
Migrants could arrive in Arizona’s Tucson sector. The daily number of cross-border crossers here can exceed 2,000, including people from all over the world
First he flew from New Delhi to Hungary – where he was kept in a small room for ten days and fed only bread and water – then he flew to France and then to Mexico City, where he stayed for another week was held in a room.
He then took another flight, followed by a bus ride, and eventually hitchhiked to the U.S. border, he said.
He continued on to California where he was taken to a processing center where he met several others who had made a similar journey from India.
At that point, he and several others were allowed to enter with virtually no concerns, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist policies, which experts say are responsible for the recent surge in numbers.
Modi’s Hindu-first policy, an aide recently told The New York Times, was a calculated attempt to “convert all of India to believers in Hinduism.”
This and the success stories of those who have already made the trip – now widely shared on social media – have fueled the surge. Footage emerges almost daily showing men and women making different journeys to get to America.
In a clip shot late last month, more than a dozen men who appeared to be Indians were filmed illegally entering the U.S. at an unspecified point along the southern border, chanting Hindu religious slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Bajrang Bali” chanted. ‘
CBP’s total number of encounters along the border last year was more than 2 million, meaning migrants from India made up just under 2 percent of that sample
In a clip shot late last month, more than a dozen men who appeared to be Indians were filmed illegally entering the U.S. at an unspecified point along the southern border, chanting Hindu religious slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Bajrang Bali” chanted
The monthly record number brought the total number of migrant encounters in the fiscal year to 2.48 million – for the first time in history – up from 2.38 million in 2022
At the time, 2.38 million was a world record, but has since been surpassed as asylum seekers continue to enter the country
India’s Hindu-first policy, an aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently told the New York Times, is part of a calculated attempt to “convert the whole of India to believers in Hinduism.”
In another clip, taken somewhere deep in the jungles of Panama, a parade of what are believed to be Indians can be seen crossing a section of the Darien Gap, a day-long trek across the rugged border between Colombia and Panama.
The crossing was once so dangerous that few dared attempt it, but given the current scale of the refugee crisis, many migrants are now streaming through the dense jungle to somehow get to and through Mexico.
Crossings of the Darien Gap – 66 roadless kilometers of dense, mountainous jungles and swamps filled with armed guerrillas and drug traffickers in Panama – have increased so much that they could reach 500,000 people this year alone.
The migration route, like the mile-long freight trains that wind through Mexico, is one of several methods exploited by groups including Indians, including smugglers posing as travel agents, to gain access to the U.S. – and not always from the south.
Last April, four Native Americans were found dead near the U.S.-Canada border after they attempted to cross the border illegally when their boat capsized, killing them all.
In January last year, four Indians froze to death in a similar manner in Manitoba, Canada, near the US border.
Later in April, American officials rescued six Indians from the Saint Regis River after receiving a report of a sinking boat near the southern border, barely saving everyone on board.
Last August, seven more Indians were arrested by authorities while trying to cross into the US from Quebec.
The surge in migrants trying to enter the U.S. underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border and the political challenge it poses to President Joe Biden
All have contributed to the increase in illegal Indian movements, most of which have been reported since October last year.
As the number of border crossings continues to rise, government officials blame migration from countries like India and other countries outside the Western Hemisphere for the U.S. failure to logistically manage the surge of illegal entries at the southern border.
Making matters worse is that the US has no relationship with these countries – which makes enforcing an immigration cap very difficult and also very costly.
The surge in migrants, meanwhile, underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border and the political challenge it poses to President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election in 2024.
As it stands, the CPB “will continue to remain vigilant, making operational adjustments as necessary and enforcing consequences in accordance with U.S. immigration law,” Acting CBP Commissioner Troy A. Miller said in a statement last week.
However, the new data also shows that Venezuelans were the largest nationality arrested for crossing the U.S. border illegally last month – replacing Mexicans for the first time on record.
Miller called the scale of migration “historic” and said CBP is working with domestic and foreign partners to address the problem and strengthen enforcement.
The Biden administration has also proposed about $14 billion for the border in a $106 billion spending package — announced last week — stressing that any long-term solution requires help from Congress.
The White House proposal includes $1.6 billion to hire 1,600 new asylum officers and processing staff, which could double the number of people working on asylum cases.
In addition, about $1.4 billion of the total is proposed to be used to hire 375 immigration judges and their teams and 1,300 new border patrol agents.
Meanwhile, the crisis continues.