Boston, Feb. 6: In a phenomenon that is “baffling” for American border authorities, thousands of immigrants from India, entered the US illegally last year, crossing from Mexico into Texas, according to a media report.
More than 1,600 Indians have been caught since the influx began, mainly at the southern tip of Texas, early last year, the Los Angeles Times reported. According to US border authorities, “an undetermined number, perhaps thousands (of Indian immigrants) are believed to have sneaked through undetected,” a phenomenon that is “backing up court dockets, filling detention centres and triggering investigations.”
The migration is “part of a mysterious and rapidly growing human-smuggling pipeline,” the report said.
“The immigrants, mostly young men from poor villages, say they are fleeing religious and political persecution,” the report said adding that most of the immigrants say they are from the Indian states of Punjab or Gujarat and have “common surnames” Patel and Singh.
About 650 Indians were arrested in southern Texas in the last three months of 2010 alone.
Indians are now the largest group of immigrants other than Latin Americans being caught at the Southwest border, the report said.