Approximately 8,447 people from India were arrested last year trying to cross into the U.S. at one of the 48 borders it shares with Mexico, reported the North American Punjabi Association Feb. 6, releasing data it had obtained from U.S. Citizenship and Information Services via a Freedom of Information Act request.
More than 8,000 Indian males were arrested last year by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with 422 females, according to the USCIS data. Three people arrested had an unknown gender.
Of those arrested, 1,616 people were immediately deported. NAPA did not release information as to whether those who were not deported were remanded into ICE custody.
In fiscal year 2018, 9,459 Indian men and 359 Indian women were detained by ICE; 551 Indian men and 60 women were deported.
Satnam Singh Chahal, Indian American executive director of NAPA, said in a press statement that although there was no record of deported persons from Punjab, it was believed that most were from the region. He noted that a growing number of Indian-origin illegal migrants were a serious matter of concern for all of us as well as the Government of India and state of Punjab.
“Illegal immigrants moving through Mexico, Arizona and Texas states of United States are undocumented persons of Indian origin hoping to reach the U.S. after expensive, arduous, and often dangerous journeys that could take months or even years,” he added.
During the three years of President Donald Trump’s administration, an alarming number of people apprehended at the border are placed in ICE detention until their cases are heard, a lengthy process which has left many asylum seekers from India in detention for more than two years.
Previously, bonds allowed an asylum seeker to be released to family until the case was adjudicated. But Indian American immigration activists note that obtaining a bond — even after passing a credible fear interview — is now almost impossible to obtain.
Many Indians in ICE detention have gone on prolonged hunger strikes, protesting their continued incarceration at federal facilities.
The numbers of Indians apprehended at the border in 2019 are slightly lower than fiscal year 2018, according to USCIS data. That year, 9,818 Indians tried to cross into the U.S., and were arrested, including 359 women; 611 Indians were immediately deported.
During the previous Obama administration, Indians arrested while trying to enter the U.S. borders peaked in 2016: 4,088 Indians were held by ICE, including 353 women; and 353 were immediately deported, following the patterns of the previous two years.
In the press statement, Chahal said that deportations had been lower during Trump’s term than during the Obama years. “Though Trump has made a crackdown on immigration a centrepiece of his first term, his administration lags behind President Obama’s pace of deportations,” he said.
SOURCE: India West
