Surge in illegal Indian migration to US; China tally trebles in 2 years

The debate around illegal immigration has intensified in the runup to the US presidential election. Archis Mohan gives insight into the issue

There has been a sharp increase in illegal migration from India to the United States (US) in the last two years, according to the US Customs and Border Protection data. Indians have topped the number of illegal immigrants from Asian countries caught at land, sea, and air checkpoints of the US since 2022, a dubious distinction that earlier went to illegal immigrants from the Philippines. 

But the highlight of the data for 2023-24 (October 1 to September 30), released on October 22, is the surge in illegal migration from China to the US, which has almost tripled in the last two years. 

The US authorities detained 78,701 illegal immigrants from China in 2023-24, up from 52,700 in 2022-23, and 27,756 in 2021-22.

Illegal immigration has become a key issue in the US presidential elections. In the last few months, the US has taken to deport illegal Chinese and Indian immigrants. 

During 2023-24, US authorities detected 90,415 Indian citizens trying to enter illegally, which was slightly lower than the 96,917 illegal immigrants from India encountered during 2022-23, the highest ever, but consistent with the trend witnessed since 2020-21. Of the 90,415 encountered in 2023-24, 78,312 were ‘single adults’, 11,531 were ‘individual in a family unit’, 517 were ‘single minors’ and 55 were ‘accompanied minors’. 

 

Illegal immigrants from the Philippines accounted for the third highest numbers from Asia – 48,421 in 2023-24, 51,399 in 2022-23, 55,117 in 2021-22 and 46,353 in 2020-21. Illegal immigration has also increased from Ukraine since 2020-2021, when US Customs and Border Patrol caught 9,378 people of Ukrainian citizenship at border checkpoints, which increased to 97,377 in 2021-22, 101,815 in 2022-23 before easing a bit to 78,605 in 2023-24. 

Of the total 2,901,142 caught trying to enter the US illegally in the 2023-24, those with Indian citizenship comprised 3.11 per cent. The US authorities caught a total of 3,210,144 persons in 2022-23 trying to enter it illegally, 2,766,582 in 2021-22 and 1,956,519 in 2020-21. 

According to a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement on Friday, it sent on October 22 a chartered flight to India with Indian nationals who were caught trying to enter the US illegally. In the 2023-24, the DHS removed or returned over 160,000 individuals and operated more than 495 international repatriation flights to more than 145 countries, including India, the statement said.