Sharp rise in Indians detained at US border with Canada – with number caught attempting to sneak across already 50% higher than last year

Border agents have recorded a sharp increase in the number of Indians trying to enter the US illegally from Canada, a trend that immigration advocates expect will continue until the election.

According to figures from US Customs and Border Protection, 30,010 Indian nationals were apprehended at the northern border in 2023, compared to just 2,225 two years earlier during the height of the pandemic.

Another 16,622 have arrived this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

The data shows an increase in encounters at ports of entry, including airports, but also an increase in the number of migrants arrested while trying to sneak into the country across the treacherous land border.

Indians make up the third-largest group of undocumented migrants in America, amid a booming industry in the country run by fixers who charge up to $100,000 to help people reach the United States illegally.

The increase comes amid a general increase in illegal crossings at the northern border, with migrants increasingly willing to brave harsh conditions to avoid the chaotic southern border.

An RCMP officer stops people as they enter Canada via Roxham Road at the Canada-US border in Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada, on Saturday, March 25, 2023

Experts have said the increase in crossings by Indian migrants is part of the broader trend of increased illegal migration to the United States in recent years.

The current crisis is mainly at the southern border, but some wealthier migrants are choosing to enter Canada first, in part because it is easier to obtain a visa and then cross the northern border.

Many of the Indian nationals who choose this route are “not the desperately poor” but come from middle-class families who expect to find more opportunities and higher wages in the United States, experts say.

Devesh Kapur, professor of South Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University, told the WashingtonPost that a shortage of jobs in India has contributed to a ‘migration culture’.

In major cities, immigration agents offer transportation to America for fees of tens of thousands of dollars. Some migrants travel through as many as a dozen countries along the way before arriving in Mexico or Canada and then crossing a land border into the U.S.

Chirag Patel, a Maryland immigration attorney, told us Voice of America that more people may choose to cross before the upcoming elections. They may want to cross the border before a possible Trump victory, which would lead to stricter border policies.

“People are trying to get a lot of things in before November, but obviously also before January,” he said.

An analysis of the data shows that in 2023, 1,630 Indian nationals were apprehended by border police between points of entry, an indication that someone is trying to sneak into the country undetected.

So far in 2024, the total is already 2,454 with six months of the fiscal year to go.

The number of undocumented migrants encountered at ports of entry – such as those arriving at an airport by air – was 28,380 last year. So far this fiscal year, 14,168 undocumented Indian nationals have arrived at ports of entry.

The Indian embassy has said it is working with the US government to tackle “illegal immigration and human trafficking” while facilitating legal entry.

Shinder Purewal, from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, told Voice of America: ‘It is easier to get a visa for Canada than for Pakistan.

‘More and more people are entering Canada, so they can just go straight to the US’

Indian nationals are also crossing the southern border at unprecedented levels.

Border Patrol arrested 41,719 people in 2023, more than double the number the year before.

There has also been an increase among people from other countries in Asia, including Chinese nationals.

DailyMail.com reported this week that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has arrested nearly 25,000 nationals from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since October.

The recent figures represent an increase of 7,000 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas has highlighted that he recently struck a deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the US to charter more deportation flights of migrants from the country.

Border Patrol footage shows a group of people crossing the Canadian border into the US

Pictured: Chinese migrants are detained by CBP in Jacumba, California on November 11, 2023

Only 342 migrants from China were detained by CBP in fiscal year 2021, and 1,987 were apprehended in the next fiscal year cycle.

But the number of illegal migrants from China rose by 24,125 for the entire year in 2023.

CBP’s dataset only includes apprehensions of Chinese migrants who crossed the border illegally and does not include ports of entry where tens of thousands of PRC migrants have crossed in recent years.

The increase in border crossings from the People’s Republic of China comes amid heightened tensions between China and the US.

The vast majority of Chinese nationals crossing the border illegally are single adults, leading to fears that some may be spies for the CCP.

Sec. Mayorkas said at a House hearing last week that the U.S. has so far returned one flight of Chinese nationals to the People’s Republic of China — and there are plans to send more.