JALANDHAR: The United States in 2019 deported 1,616 Indians, the highest in any single year since 2014, according to data obtained from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A total of 8,447 Indian nationals were detained in ICE facilities last year for violating immigration laws, information provided last month under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has revealed.
In 2018, the US immigration authorities detained 9,818 Indians (including 359 women), the highest till now. The same year, 611 Indians were deported from the US.
The ICE data has also revealed that among the 8,447 “ICE initial bookings (sic) of Indian nationals by gender” 422 were women, 8,022 were men while gender of three was not clear to the American authorities. This is about four times when compared with the 2014 number when 2,306 Indian nationals were detained in ICE facilities. Notably, the number of women in the ICE detention centres is increasing almost in the same proportion.
This trend has been highlighted in viral videos of a series of instances involving Punjabi-speaking women and children trying to enter illegally through Mexico last year. In the second week of June last year, a six-year-old girl died in Arizona desert as her mother, who was from Haryana and trying to get reunited with her husband already in the US, had taken her along to illegally cross the American border via Mexico. Later, a video of her mother alighting from a bus, apparently in Mexico, along with some others including another woman and her daughter became viral on social media.
In third week of July 2019, two video clips became viral on social media platforms, especially among Punjabi netizens in which Punjabi men and women were seen crossing a border fence, said to be Mexico-US border, along with their children. They could be heard speaking in Punjabi.
These instances highlighted that not only Punjabi men, but women too were desperate to reach the US and were taking kids along them.
North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) executive director Satnam Singh Chahal had on November 2 sought information from ICE on number of Indian males and females deported every year from 2014 to 2019 and number of males and females of Indian origin in ICE facilities in the same period.
Releasing the information through a letter dated January 30, 2020, FOIA officer Catrina M Pavlik-Keenan stated that ICE has claimed no deletions or exemptions.
“Although there is no record of deported persons belonging to Punjab, it is believed that most are from the region. Growing number of Indian-origin illegal migrants is a serious matter of concern for all of us and the Government of India and State of Punjab as illegal immigrants have been moving through Mexico, Arizona and Texas in the United States. These undocumented persons of Indian origin are hoping to reach the US after expensive, arduous, and often dangerous journeys that can take months or even years and can sometimes be fatal,” he added.
In 2018, the US immigration authorities detained 9,818 Indians (including 359 women), the highest till now. The same year, 611 Indians were deported from the US.
The ICE data has also revealed that among the 8,447 “ICE initial bookings (sic) of Indian nationals by gender” 422 were women, 8,022 were men while gender of three was not clear to the American authorities. This is about four times when compared with the 2014 number when 2,306 Indian nationals were detained in ICE facilities. Notably, the number of women in the ICE detention centres is increasing almost in the same proportion.
This trend has been highlighted in viral videos of a series of instances involving Punjabi-speaking women and children trying to enter illegally through Mexico last year. In the second week of June last year, a six-year-old girl died in Arizona desert as her mother, who was from Haryana and trying to get reunited with her husband already in the US, had taken her along to illegally cross the American border via Mexico. Later, a video of her mother alighting from a bus, apparently in Mexico, along with some others including another woman and her daughter became viral on social media.
In third week of July 2019, two video clips became viral on social media platforms, especially among Punjabi netizens in which Punjabi men and women were seen crossing a border fence, said to be Mexico-US border, along with their children. They could be heard speaking in Punjabi.
These instances highlighted that not only Punjabi men, but women too were desperate to reach the US and were taking kids along them.
North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) executive director Satnam Singh Chahal had on November 2 sought information from ICE on number of Indian males and females deported every year from 2014 to 2019 and number of males and females of Indian origin in ICE facilities in the same period.
Releasing the information through a letter dated January 30, 2020, FOIA officer Catrina M Pavlik-Keenan stated that ICE has claimed no deletions or exemptions.
“Although there is no record of deported persons belonging to Punjab, it is believed that most are from the region. Growing number of Indian-origin illegal migrants is a serious matter of concern for all of us and the Government of India and State of Punjab as illegal immigrants have been moving through Mexico, Arizona and Texas in the United States. These undocumented persons of Indian origin are hoping to reach the US after expensive, arduous, and often dangerous journeys that can take months or even years and can sometimes be fatal,” he added.
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