Number of Indians arrested for illegally entering US has tripled
The number of Indians arrested for illegally entering the United States has skyrocketed in the past couple of years. It has nearly tripled so far in the year 2018. This has made them one of the largest groups of illegal aliens apprehended. This was reported the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Friday.
Smuggling rings are being paid between $25,000 to $50,000 per person to transport people illegally into the US. CBP spokesman Salvador Zamora said that a growing number of Indians are illegally crossing the US-Mexico border and claiming asylum for persecution.
Zamora added that a number of Indians arrested for illegally entering US have viable claims. But a large number are economic migrants with fraudulent petitions. These swamp the system and can cause legitimate cases to be “washed out” in the high volume of fraud.
The Indian Embassy in Washington and the Indian consulate in San Francisco did not respond to the request for comment. Zamora also said that the CBP expects that the data for the fiscal year that ends on 30th September will show “around 9000” Indian nationals had been apprehended. This is a huge number compared to the 3,162 in the fiscal year 2017.
Around 4000 of the Indians who illegally entered the USA this year did so through a three-mile stretch of border fence at Mexicali. Word had gotten out that Mexicali was a safe border city which favoured their crossing into the United States.
Immigration lawyers have revealed that the asylum seekers range from lower caste “untouchable” Indians facing death threats for marrying outside their caste to Sikhs claiming political persecution.
All in all, the number of Indians arrested for illegally entering the US has tripled mainly because the country’s judiciary and other authorities are not able to provide the adequate support and security to the citizens of India. Thus, people are flocking to places like the USA in search for solutions to their problems.
