Over 90,000 Indians tried to enter US illegally in the past year, shows official data

Indians constituted 90,415 out of about 29 lakh undocumented immigrants who were caught trying to enter the United States from Mexico or Canada between October 2023 and September this year, data compiled by the US Customs and Border Protection agency showed.

This means that about 10 Indians were caught every hour trying to cross the border from Mexico or Canada into the United States without documents.

This year’s number was a decrease from the 96,917 Indians who crossed the border without documents during the same period last year. Overall, 29,01,142 migrants from various countries, including Mexico, China and Colombia, came into the United States illegally in 2024, which was a fall from 32,01,144 last year.

As per the data this year, 25,616 Indians entered without documents through the country’s southwest land border with Mexico, while 43,764 entered through the northern border with Canada.

Of the total Indians who entered this year, 78,312 were single adults and 11,531 were categorised as individuals in a family. Over 500 were unaccompanied children or minors.

Nearly all Indians illegally entering the United States turn themselves in to Border Patrol to avoid getting arrested. This is so that they can apply for asylum in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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