For Indians wanting to enter the US illegally, Canada border is the first choice, this is how they are killing donkeys

New Delhi: There has been a huge increase in the number of Indians trying to enter the US illegally. According to the ‘Pew Research Center’, after Mexico and El Salvador, the highest number of 7.25 lakh Indians are living without documents in the US. According to the American think tank ‘Niskanen Center’, since October 2020, 1 lakh 69 thousand Indians have been caught without documents on the land borders of America. Most Indians are taking the route of Canada instead of Mexico to go to America. According to data from American courts, 72% of the Indians caught in 2024 were between 18 and 34 years and 80% were men.

Indians are third largest group of people living illegally in America

Indians are third in the number of people living without permission in America. According to the ‘Pew Research Center’, the highest number of people living without documents in America are from Mexico and El Salvador. Indians come next. The number of Indians caught trying to enter the US illegally has increased significantly since Covid. Last year, India’s Ministry of External Affairs told Parliament that in 2022-23, 96,917 Indians were caught, expelled or denied entry by US border officials.

Disclosure in the report of American think tank

American think tank ‘Niskanen Center’, in a report prepared on the basis of data from the ‘US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’ agency, said that Indians are the largest group of people trying to enter the US illegally. This report also states that since October 2020, 1 lakh 69 thousand Indian immigrants have been found without proper documents on the land borders of America.

The think tank also noted that there has been a decrease in the movement of illegal immigrants across the US southern border with Mexico. This is because El Salvador has ended its ‘visa-free’ policy and Indians now have to pay a fee for visas to travel there.

Trying to enter through donkey route

As a result, some illegal immigrants try to pass through several other countries to enter the US. This is called the ‘donkey route’. The think tank says that there has been an increase in encounters with Indian immigrants in Panama. The report says that this increase indicates that at least some of these immigrants travel to the US from South America, where they can obtain visas in Bolivia.

Taking risks in search of employment

It is believed that most Indians trying to enter the US are taking this risky step in search of employment. Citing US court data, the think tank said that 72% of Indian citizens facing legal proceedings in 2024 were between the ages of 18 and 34. 80% of the Indians facing legal cases in 2024 were men.

The report also shows that more than 80% of people caught crossing the border illegally since October 2020 are unmarried. The report says that this figure is increasing. It was 70% in the financial year 2021, which has increased to more than 82% in 2024.

Millions of people wait for America’s Green Card

In August this year, an Indian software professional from Texas made headlines when he/she advised students against pursuing higher education in the US, saying that if you are born in India, you will have to wait for 100 years for a green card. The US can issue 6,75,000 green cards every year, but as of February 2024, 3.47 crore people were waiting in line for it.

Indians are the top applicants for US visa

A Forbes report in April said that more than 1 million Indians were stuck in employment-based immigration backlogs. According to a report, 1.4 million US visas were processed in India in 2023. One in every ten applicants for US visas from around the world comes from India.

In 2022, a Gujarati family, including two children aged 11 and three, froze to death while attempting to illegally enter the US on foot through the Canadian border. The children’s father had reportedly been denied a US visa four times.