Thread: More Indians entering illegally via Mexico: US

19 Oct, 2010, 11.44AM IST, Ishani Duttagupta,ET Bureau
More Indians entering illegally via Mexico: US

NEW DELHI: The US Border Patrol has recorded a big growth in the number of Indian nationals trying to enter the country illegally through Mexico, inviting concern from its embassy in India.

According to the US Border Patrol figures, the number of Indian nationals apprehended illegally crossing the US south west border (with Mexico) has shot up from 204 in 2009 to 975 in 2010 (as of September 10, 2010), a 475% increase.

"This is an alarming trend because illegal immigration through the Mexico route is very dangerous," James W Herman, minister, counsellor for consular affairs at the US Embassy in Delhi, told ET.

It is estimated that there are over 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, of which above 50% are from Mexico. The increase is largely a consequence of additional checks and new processes implemented by the US government to stop illegal and irregular immigration.

"We have been taking various steps at the US embassy here to check the use of fraudulent documents by Indian nationals when applying for visas," Mr Herman said. The drive has been successful in bringing down the number of illegal immigrants, but has resulted in an increase in the number of Indians trying to enter the US illegally through the south-west borders.

"Besides the inhospitable and dangerous conditions faced by illegal immigrants trying to cross the Arizona desert, Indians are more vulnerable to criminals and also to being detected by US border patrols because they don’t speak Spanish," said Mr Herman.

Following the beefing up of security by the US Border Patrol along the US-Mexico border, there are more cases of illegal immigrants trying to use the route through the Arizona desert. There are several deaths due to dehydration while crossing the desert.

The US embassy is in touch with the Indian bureau of immigration to check this trend through a closer scrutiny of travel documents of people travelling to certain South and Central American destinations.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

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