New Delhi: In September this year, 8,076 Indians were arrested by United States’s law enforcement agencies when they tried to enter the country illegally through various routes. Of the total, 3,059 Indians were arrested from the US-Canada border alone, data from the US Customs and Border Protection has revealed.
The number of Indians arrested on the US-Canada border in September is the highest number of such arrests carried out in a month in the period between October 2022 and September 2023.
According to The Times of India, a source said, “Many illegal immigrants, primarily from Gujarat, have either settled in Canada or are awaiting an opportunity to enter the US. In August, 2,327 illegal immigrants were caught trying to cross over to the US. This number rose to 3,059 in September.”
Those arrested also include four unaccompanied children; four other children, each accompanied by a family member; and 530 children with their parents and siblings. A total of 2,521 single adults were arrested.
Indians who attempt crossing over into the US illegally, typically do it through the US-Mexico border. According to the official figures, a total of 1.9 lakh Indians were arrested by US law enforcement agencies between February 2019 and March this year.
Attempts by Indians to illegally migrate to the US continue unabated despite a number of instances where several families have been killed during these perilous journeys. A family of four from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar froze to death in January 2022 when they tried to enter the US illegally through the US-Canada border. Another Gujarat family drowned in the St. Lawrence River in April this year trying to immigrate to the US unlawfully.