97,000 Indians, mostly from Punjab and Gujarat, arrested in 1 year trying to enter US illegally

97,000 Indians, mostly from Punjab and Gujarat, arrested in 1 year trying to enter US illegally
Washington: A record 96,917 Indians were arrested while crossing illegally into the US between October 2022 and September 2023, according to the latest US Customs and Border Protection (UCBP) data.

Indians apprehended while crossing the US border unlawfully have reportedly witnessed a five-fold increase in the past few years.

In 2019-20, 19,883 Indians were apprehended. In 2020-21, 30,662 Indians were arrested while in 2021-22, the number was 63,927, according to the data.

Of the 96,917 Indians, mostly from Punjab and Gujarat, arrested between October 2022 and September this year, 30,010 were caught on the Canadian border and 41,770 at the frontier with Mexico.

Those arrested are classified under four categories — Accompanied Minors (AM), Individuals in a Family Unit (FMUA), Single Adults, and Unaccompanied Children (UC).

Single adults make up the largest category. In fiscal year 2023, 84,000 Indian adults crossed into the US illegally.

As many as 730 unaccompanied minors were among the arrested people. The US federal government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.

Meanwhile, Senator James Lankford said on the Senate floor on Thursday that these people take about four flights, including through countries like France, to be able to get to Mexico, the closest airport, and then literally take a bus rented by the cartels up to the border to be dropped off for their last delivery.

“So far this year we’ve had 45,000 people from India that have crossed our southern border, paid the cartels, crossed into our country,” Lankford said.