Ganesh Kendale
AHMEDABAD: Despite the perilous journey and a series of deaths of illegal Indian immigrants trying to cross the border, the lure of a life in the US, especially among Gujaratis, remains strong.
During US FY 2024 – October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024 – 29 lakh illegal immigrants were caught trying to enter the country through Mexico and Canada. Of these, Indians constituted 90,415, US Customs and Border Protection (US-CBP) data shows.
Of this total, roughly 50% were from Gujarat, sources in Indian agencies tracking illegal immigration said. It could also be said that 10 Indians were arrested every hour, the sources said. Also, 43,764 were arrested at the US border with Canada, in the north, making it the highest number of Indians caught at this border till now.
The data reveals a slight decline from the previous year’s total of 32 lakh people, and in the number of Indians caught on the Mexico route. In FY 2023, the number of illegal Indian immigrants caught was 96,917. In 2024, fewer Indians (25,616) were caught at the US-Mexico border; this number in US FY 2023 was 41,770.
“People have stopped using the donkey route via Mexico due to two key reasons. One is that they would be kept in Dubai or Turkey for some time before being taken to Mexico. US agencies, over the past few years, have been keeping sharp vigil on illegal immigrants staying in those countries and have broken links in the human smuggling chain,” a source in the immigration network said.
A source said, “Gujaratis, too, began choosing Canada over Mexico as they could easily hire a taxi and cross over to the US. Recently, US authorities have tightened vigil on this border. Such immigrants are usually sent to Canada as most of them carry a Canadian visitor visa. However, the immigrants try again after some time on the same route.”
Sources also said that people caught at the border may be very few compared to those who actually manage to sneak into the US.
