Immigrants from India flocked US-Mexico Border

[Naijaloaded]

BOOK INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS TICKETS LOCAL FLIGHTS HOTELS BOOKINGS WORLDWIDE AND MORE AT CHEAPEST RATE EVER! CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR FLIGHT AND RECEIVE YOUR FLIGHT TICKET INSTANTLY

Loading...

Immigrants from India are becoming increasingly common at the U.S.-Mexico border. They are now the fifth-largest group after immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

While Indians still lag far behind Latin Americans, the number is rising. In fiscal year 2017, 2,227 Indians were apprehended trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. In the first seven months of FY 2018, there were 4,197 apprehensions, according to Syracuse University's TRAC.

"Their number shot up," said Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute.

Many of the immigrants are Sikhs who are fleeing "political persecution" with a religious component, say lawyers who represent them in U.S. asylum cases.

Sikh asylum-seekers held at the Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution in Oregon have cited political persecution by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Many of the Indian immigrants endure harrowing journeys.

"For almost a month, we walked in knee-deep swamp through the dreaded Panama jungles. My feet were wounded," Sarabjit Singh, 30, recalled in an interview. Singh has requested asylum and is currently working at an eatery in Hayward, California, waiting his turn to appear before an immigration judge.

"The 14 of us were stripped, robbed of our money and beaten by armed bandits. From Panama to Costa Rica, the only piece of cloth we had on us was an undergarment. All we ate during this horrific trek was uncooked rice and chickpeas."