Rise in Indian Migrant Encounters in the U.S. Borders

Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that more than 86,400 Indian nationals were stopped for trying to make unauthorized crossings at the southwest border to the United States between October 2020 and August 2024, during which time over 88,800 Indian nationals were also stopped at the northern border. While the numbers for the combined borders are lower for Indian nationals than those for populations seeking to enter from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Indian nationals are now the largest group of undocumented migrants who are encountered by the CBP from outside the region. The second largest group outside of the region are from the world’s other nation with over a billion people, China (625,196 encounters across the two borders). Here, encounters include both apprehensions and expulsions.

As the following chart shows, there has been a rise in the number of Indian national encounters at the U.S. borders since 2021. According to an analysis by Gil Guerra and Sneha Puri of Niskanen, this migration pattern is being driven by a number of factors, ranging from the search for better-paying work following economic instability and unemployment within India, particularly in rural areas and for those affected by the deregulation of agricultural laws, to fears among some members of Sikh communities of increased sectarianism in India.

The journey from India to the U.S. is called the so-called “donkey route”, said to stem from the Punjabi word "dunki" which translates to "moving from place to place". This illegal route, undertaken by trafficking networks, is an alternative to the legal process of applying for a visa, which can take a long time with major backlogs and high rejection rates.

CBP data shows that the number of Indians apprehended at the southwest land border by the U.S. border patrol and field operations spiked in 2023, reaching a peak of 8,012 encounters in April of that year. This figure has fallen since, however, with the number of encounters at the southwestern land border having declined to 1,677 people in August 2024. At the northern land border, the number of Indian encounters rose to a peak of 5,153 people in June 2024, declining to 4,216 encounters last month. The change in preferred routes for entry to the U.S. is likely a result of a number of factors, as NPR reports, whether that’s Mexico’s increased enforcement or because of Canada’s “favorable immigration policies.”

While there were fewer total encounters of all nationalities at the northern crossing between October 2023-August 2024 (181,814 encounters) than to the southwest (2,033,260 encounters), the biggest group of a single nationality stopped while attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada were from India (39,278), followed by Canada (32,435), China (11,441) and the Philippines (8,179). The biggest group of encounters was the ‘Other’ category with 69,727 people counted. 

Where the southern border is known to be the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide, the northern border can be dangerous too. In April 2023, an Indian family and a Romanian family died trying to make the crossing from Canada to the U.S. Just one year before, another family from India froze to death, believed to be also trying to make the journey.