Illegal Indian Migrants Find New Route to Enter the U.S.: The Canada Border

In recent years, the United States has witnessed an unprecedented increase in illegal migrants from India, most of whom have entered the U.S. through the Mexico border. However, due to increasing pressure at the Mexico-U.S. border, these migrants have turned to an unconventional route: the vast and low-tension Canada border. According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in the fiscal year 2023, U.S. border agents apprehended a total of 97,000 illegal Indian migrants, with 30,000 of them attempting to enter the U.S. from the northern borders. This figure was only 2,225 in 2021. This trend has continued to rise in recent months: between November 2023 and February 2024, 14,000 illegal Indian migrants attempted to enter the U.S. via Canada, while this number was only 619 during the same period two years ago. This situation is part of a broader surge of illegal migrants entering the U.S. through northern states. In the calendar year 2023, there were approximately 190,000 encounters with asylum seekers along the Canada border, six times the number in 2021. The end of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global increase in migration, but experts attribute the welcoming stance of the Biden administration towards asylum seekers as one of the reasons for their attraction to the United States. Chirak Patel, an immigration attorney based in Maryland, emphasizes that it is likely that asylum seekers will continue to attempt to enter through the northern U.S. borders, as they are concerned about changes in these policies following the U.S. presidential elections in November. The influx of Indian asylum seekers is changing the face of illegal immigration to the United States. Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, states, 'They are coming from all over the world; literally.' With this increase, Indians are now the third-largest group of illegal migrants to the United States. While many of these asylum seekers have legitimate claims of persecution and torture, experts say that most are economic migrants coming from two affluent states in India—Punjab and Gujarat—seeking a better life in the U.S. Diush Kapoor, a program director for Asia and a professor of South Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University, says, 'One of our mistakes is thinking that it is the poor who migrate. The poor in South Asia cannot afford the cost of a flight.' Those who can afford it have no legal means to enter the United States; obtaining a U.S. student visa is difficult, and obtaining an immigration visa can sometimes take up to 20 years due to the high volume of applicants. Thus, the illegal route becomes the only possible way to enter the U.S.: a sometimes dangerous journey across several continents, heavily promoted on social media and made possible by global smuggling networks for a hefty fee. The cost of this journey can be $50,000, roughly equivalent to the price of an acre of farmland in Punjab. While most Indian migrants illegally travel to Mexico, many consider Canada a faster and safer option. Shinder Porwal, a political science professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, states that Canada's recent efforts to attract international students have made it easier for Indians to obtain a Canadian visa. 'Getting a Canadian visa is easier than getting a visa from Pakistan.' He notes that until recently, Indians who could not obtain Canadian residency would move to the United States, 'but now they want to go directly to the U.S. because both the economic situation and job prospects are better in America.' The Canadian immigration agency did not respond to Voice of America's request for comment. However, the economic outlook is not the only reason for the increase in Indian migration to the U.S.; the support that Indian communities in America provide to asylum seekers is also one of these reasons. A smuggling network recently uncovered in the U.S. was transporting Gujarati migrants from the Canada border to business centers belonging to the Gujarati-American community in Chicago. Pawan Dhingra, an associate professor and dean at Amherst College, says, 'Those who come definitely have acquaintances in the U.S.; otherwise, they could go anywhere else.' Despite the U.S.-Canada borders being known for their safety, crossing these borders has sometimes been deadly for Indian migrants. In January 2023, a family of four Indians was found frozen just a few meters from the U.S. border in Manitoba. In April 2023, the bodies of eight migrants, including four Indians, were discovered in the St. Lawrence River. Maureen Silcoff, an immigration and asylum lawyer in Canada, states, 'People do not leave their homes, families, acquaintances, and jobs for adventure. People become desperate and sometimes face very serious human rights violations, trying to escape these problems by migrating to another country.' She says the severe risks they take indicate their urgent need to escape hardships. The Indian embassy in Washington did not respond to Voice of America's request for comment. The International Organization for Migration: 2023 was the deadliest year in a decade for asylum seekers. Biden's welcome of a bipartisan agreement in the Senate on border security; the House of Representatives opposes it. An EU official: Legal migration to the European Union should be increased. EU members reached an agreement on immigration policy. Macron's proposed immigration bill was rejected; the interior minister says the bill's goal is to organize the status of migrants. Meeting of the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico in San Francisco; illegal migration and trafficking are concerns for the leaders of both countries. EU members reached an agreement on 'managing the refugee crisis.'