Illegal immigration from India to the US has been a persistent problem as data showed that 2.9 million illegal immigrants were apprehended at the US borders with Mexico and Canada in the US fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023-September 30, 2024).

US Customs and Border Protection (US-CBP) disclosed data showing that there were 90,415 Indians out of these 2.9 illegal immigrants.

Of those more than 90,000 Indians, roughly 50 percent were from Gujarat, according to sources with Indian agencies that track illegal immigration.

It added that 10 Indians were arrested every hour. In addition, 43,764 were arrested at the American border with Canada to the north, making it the highest number of Indians ever captured at this border.

However, it showed a slight decrease from the previous year’s total of 3.2 million, and also in the number of Indians captured on the Mexico route.

In last fiscal year’s report, the number of illegal Indian immigrants caught was 96,917.

“People have stopped using the donkey route through Mexico for two main reasons. One is that they would be kept in Dubai or Turkey for a period of time before being taken to Mexico. US authorities have been keeping a sharp watch for illegal immigrants who stay in these countries and have broken links in the people-smuggling chain,” said a source in the immigration network.

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The source added, “Gujaratis also started choosing Canada over Mexico as they could easily hire a taxi and cross over to the US. Recently, US authorities have tightened vigil at this border. Such immigrants are usually sent to Canada as most of them carry a Canadian visitor visa. But the immigrants try again after a while on the same route.

They further said that the people caught at the border may be very few compared to those who actually manage to sneak into the United States.

(With input from agencies)