Comment by Riaz Haq on June 18, 2015 at 8:17am

BBC News - #Indians pray at #visa temples to go abroad. Why are #Indians escaping #india by millions? #EXODUS 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33161672


Millions of Indians regularly visit temples and religious sites to pray and seek divine help in fulfilling their wishes.
Most pray for a child or well being of their loved ones, but in recent years, some unusual temples have come up, including a few that offer divine help in procuring a visa. 

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 23, 2016 at 4:06pm

India Is the Fastest-Growing Source of New Illegal Immigrants to the U.S.
The country ranks fourth after Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala for the largest source of unauthorized migrants to America
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/09/22/india-is-the-fastest-...


a growing number of Indians that are less-skilled and staying in the country illegally. In fact, in recent years the net number of Indians staying in America illegally has been growing much more than even the number of new illegal Mexico-born immigrants in the country, a recent Pew Research Center report showed this week.

Of course the total number of unauthorized Mexicans in the United States is more than ten times higher than the number of Indians but most of them arrived more than a decade ago. The total for illegal immigrants born in Mexico has been shrinking while the total from India has been growing more than any other country.

In the period between 2009 and 2014, Pew estimates, the number of unauthorized Indian immigrants in the U.S. surged by 43% to a total of around 500,000. During the same period, the number of unauthorized Mexicans fell 8% to 5.85 million.

India now ranks fourth after Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala in terms of the countries that are the largest source of unauthorized migrants to America.

Despite concerns of the U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and his followers that a flood of illegal immigrants are hurting America, the number of illegals has actually been falling for years. However the steady decline of the number of illegal immigrants from Latin America has been partly offset by those arriving from Asia, led by India.

“The U.S. unauthorized immigrant population – 11.1 million in 2014 – has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession, as the number from Mexico declined but the total from other regions of the world increased,” the report said.

If you combine legal and illegal arrivals, both India and China are each sending more people to the United States in recent years. In 2014 about 136,000 people came to the U.S. from India, about 128,000 from China and about 123,000 from Mexico, census figures show. As recently as 2005, Mexico sent more than 10 times as many people to the U.S. as China, and more than six times as many as India.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 21, 2018 at 8:34am

#Indian man crossed 11 countries to enter #US; now deported. #IllegalImmigration #India #Brazil #Bolivia #Peru #CostaRica #Ecuador #Colombia #Panama #Mexico https://in.news.yahoo.com/indian-man-crossed-11-countries-053939777... … via @YahooIndia

Indian man crossed 11 countries to enter US; now deported
NewsBytes 
Shiladitya Ray

https://in.news.yahoo.com/indian-man-crossed-11-countries-053939777...

20 May 2018: Indian man crossed 11 countries to enter US; now deported

An Indian man who had reportedly travelled over 10,000kms across 11 countries in a month to enter the US illegally in 2016 has been deported back after he was caught staying illegally.

The man, identified as one Harpreet Singh, hails from Punjab's Kapurthala district and was deported back to India on Saturday night on a United Airlines flight.

Here's more about Singh's 'remarkable' journey.

Journey: Singh's journey from Brazil to the US

On 20th August 2016, Harpreet Singh took a flight from the Indira Gandhi International Airport to Brazil on a valid passport.

From Bolivia, Singh arrived in Lima, Peru. From there, he reached Costa Rica passing through Ecuador, Columbia and Panama. Then, he entered Honduras and went to Guatemala and finally arrived in Mexico, the officer said.

The final leg of Singh's journey began in Mexico, from where he illegally took a boat into the US.

Details: Singh had lost his passport during his journey

But why take all this trouble?

According to deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport), Singh's original passport and belongings were stolen by local miscreants at some point during his journey.

Singh had then approached his agent in India, who managed to get Singh a fake passport.

Singh identified his agent as one Rana - a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab.

US activities: Singh worked for 15 months in US before deportation

Police officials said that Singh had confessed that he had sneaked into the US illegally as he wanted US citizenship.

After reaching the US, Singh managed to work for 15 months at a departmental store in Louisiana before he was apprehended and deported for illegally staying in the US.

Several cases of cheating and forgery have been registered against him in India.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 3, 2019 at 6:37am

Hundreds of #Indian #students face jail, deportation from #UnitedStates after the arrest of 8 men from #India in #fake university scam via @htTweets https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/hundreds-of-indian-studen...

Hundreds of students from India face deportation or criminal charges after the arrest Wednesday of eight men of Indian origin who had enrolled them at a fake university run by undercover US agents in a sting operation to snare racketeers who misuse the student visa to help unqualified foreigners stay and work.

US justice department’s Michigan branch announced the arrest of the eight men, whose names indicated they were either Indians or American citizens of Indian descent, all over the country, charged with visa fraud and harboring aliens for profit, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The alleged recruiters arrested were identified as Barath Kakireddy, of Florida; Suresh Kandala, of Virginia; Phanideep Karnati, of Kentucky; Prem Rampeesa, of North Carolina; Santosh Sama, of California; Avinash Thakkallapally, of Pennsylvania; Aswanth Nune, of Georgia; and Naveen Prathipati, of Texas,

A number of students enrolled in this fake institution, University of Farmington in Michigan state, were also taken into custody by agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an early morning swoop — “5:00 am and thereabouts”, said someone who was told of it by witnesses — all over the country.


Those apprehended could be around 200, according to official sources and witness accounts, of the total of an estimated 600 enrolled. But, those in the know warned, all 600 could be on the deportation list, and only, if they were lucky. Some of them could be looking at a jail term as well.

The Indian embassy here and its consulates have been in touch with US officials and also with some of affected students or those who know them and is working on how to help them.

There was no response from ICE to request for information about the number of Indian students arrested or detained and their fate — if they were being detained or arrested for deportation eventually or that they could also be charged with criminal offenses, and tried and incarcerated here.


In one of the early morning raids, as described in a second-hand account, government agents asked students to name their professors at the school to test whether they were complicit in the scam — of enrolling in a school knowing it had never held classes, because it wasn’t meant to as a “pay-to-stay” operation.

“Don’t worry, we know you can’t name them,” one agent is said to have told the student.

University of Farmington was a fake institution started and run by undercover agents from the Department of Homeland Security since 2015, said one of the three related indictments that were unsealed Wednesday, to “identify recruiters and entities engaged in immigration fraud”. It was not staffed with educators or instructors, had no curriculum and held no classes or educational activities. It was run out of a commercial building.


The enrolled students, the indictments alleged, were not victims of the scam, but willful collaborators. “Each of the foreign citizens who ‘enrolled’ and made ‘tuition’ payments to the University knew that they would not attend any actual classes, earn credits, or make academic progress toward an actual degree in a particular field of study — a “pay to stay’’ scheme.

“Rather, their intent was to fraudulently maintain their student visa status and to obtain work authorization under the CPT (a course-related curricular training programme that allows off-campus work authorization for foreign students).

“Each student knew that the University’s program was not approved by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was illegal, and that discretion should be used when discussing the program with others.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 13, 2019 at 7:36am

6-year-old from #India died in the #Arizona desert. Gurupreet, the little girl who died in an #American desert. And Gurmeet, the grandfather whose family is still reeling. About 9,000 Indians detained at US-Mexico border. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/12/asia/us-border-death-indian-girl-fam...

India is the top source of international migrants, according to a 2017 report from the Pew Research Center, which noted that 1 in 20 migrants worldwide were born in that country.

-----------
It's been a month since Border Patrol agents found 6-year-old Gurupreet Kaur's remains just north of the US-Mexico border.
And it's been weeks since hundreds of people packed a Sikh temple in this tight-knit community to mourn her short life.
Still, for her family, no matter how much time passes, the pain is fresh.
"We are devastated," 70-year-old Gurmeet Singh said, speaking to CNN in the living room of the home where Gurupreet once lived. "To lose a child is not easy for anyone. But this is just too painful."

Gurupreet's father left Hasanpur several months after she was born. He's been living in New York City while his asylum case makes its way through the US immigration court system.
For years, Gurmeet says the little girl would tell her family in India how much she wanted to see her father.
She and her mother had planned to join him in New York after they made their way across the US-Mexico border, according to a statement released last month by the US-based Sikh Coalition.
But officials say the family's plans took a tragic turn last month when smugglers forced them to cross in a remote area on a day when temperatures soared well over 100 degrees.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 21, 2020 at 6:48pm

#US arrests foreign students using Optional Practical Training F-1 & M-1 #visa to stay in US fraudulently while working for fake companies. Those arrested include 11 #Indians, 2 #Libyans, 1 #Senegalese national and 1 #Bangladeshi national. #SiliconValley https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/ice-arrests-15-foreign...

Fifteen foreign students have been arrested for allegedly using a student work visa job program to stay in the U.S. fraudulently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Wednesday.

Officials from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security said the students. most from India, had claimed to work for companies that don't exist, and that the arrests were preliminary results from a law enforcement investigation that began in January called Operation OPTical Illusion.

"The arrests we highlight today are just the beginning and should serve as a warning," said Tony Pham, the senior official now performing the duty of ICE director. "Any non-immigrant student who fails to maintain or violates the terms of their non-immigration status is subject to arrest and removal from the United States."

The "OPT" in the operation's name refers to "Optional Practical Training," a program offered to foreign students allowing them to remain in the U.S. and gain work experience while studying in, and after graduating from, American colleges and universities. OPT is temporary employment, permitted to students with F-1 and M-1 student visas, and must be directly related to a student's major area of study.

In May, citing NBC News reporting, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, asked DHS to answer questions about the scope of fraud in a U.S. student visa program.

DHS and ICE officials said Wednesday that their investigation had identified 1,100 foreign nationals who appeared to be "not obeying the law." The officials said ICE had sent letters to 700 of them informing them it was revoking their work permits.

An ICE press release said the 15 arrests "took place in and around" Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, and Nashville, among other cities. Those arrested included 11 Indian nationals, two Libyan nationals, one Senegalese national and one Bangladeshi national.

Comment by Riaz Haq on January 24, 2022 at 7:58pm

The Patel family, who froze to death while trying to illegally enter the #US from the #Canadian border, hailed from the Dingucha village in #Gujarat, #India , which has a long history of its residents trying to sneak into #America, no matter what the cost

https://thewire.in/world/the-gujarati-family-that-froze-to-death-in...


Despite constant humiliation, deportation and even the loss of life, more and more Gujaratis are willing to undertake dangerous practises to reach the United States and get a shot at that elusive ‘American dream’. Now, one family from a nondescript village in the state has even frozen to death.

The family, which included a three-year-old child, died whilst being trafficked across the border into the US from Canada. What’s more, another such family is thought to be missing.

The family hailed from Dingucha village, some 12 kilometre from the Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar, with a registered population of 3,000 people. Most of residents of this village give a wry, proud smile when they say, “More than 1,800 people from our village, the majority, live in America.”

Every house in Dingucha is replete with Costco candy and jalepeño wafers. Locals from the Patel-dominated area take pride in the fact that people from there began migrating to America from the early 70s, “when there were no issues,” as an older resident of the village said.

The death of the family is very sad, the residents of Dingucha said, noting that they will find the agent who promised a “first-class human smuggling exercise” and had charged them Rs 65 lakh to do so. They are trying to get in touch over the phone with the relatives of a family in the village which was part of another group trying to make their way into the US.


--------

Last year, a 24-year-old man from North Gujarat’s Mehsana district decided to leave the country with his family because he was being harassed by local politicians. With help from an agent, he reached the Mexican border. From there, they were joined by a local agent ferrying another group of people crossing the border illegally.

However, his dream of settling in the US was shattered and he and the others in the group were arrested by US border authorities and taken to a detention centre in Louisiana. The agent had reportedly been paid a whopping 30 lakh to get the family into the US.


Similarly, a few years ago, a woman from North India, along with her daughter, was trying to cross from Mexico into the US through the Arizona desert. After spending 22 hours in the scorching heat, both she and her daughter died.

In 2007, then BJP MP Babubhai Katara was even caught trying to illegally send a young woman to Canada on his wife’s diplomatic passport. A subsequent investigation had revealed that an amount of around Rs 30 lakh had been fixed to do so.

The Trump administration had begun building a wall along the US’s border with Mexico and since then, undocumented immigrants have been increasingly trying to enter from Canada. While the Mexican side of the border has a tropical climate similar to India’s, the Canadian border in the North has a harsh, freezing climate.

These instances raise another question: what could compel people to become so desperate to leave the country as to endanger their lives? Could government intervention to set up new schemes to promote start-ups or innovation help keep Indians within India?

This responsibility – to think of way to prevent such disasters by creating avenues for gainful employment and assure Indians of a bright future within their country – lies with the government.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 20, 2022 at 8:29pm

Big jump in numbers of Indians crossing into US from Canada and Mexico illegally.

https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/more-indians-trying-to-ent...

The total number of undocumented Indian migrants apprehended at Southwest Land (US-Mexico) border by US Border Patrol (USBP) and Office of Field Operations (OFO) in 2022 FYTD (Oct 2021 to Apr 2022) were 8119 Indian, in 2021 (Oct 2020 till Sep 2021) were 2588, 2020 (Oct 2019 till Sep 2020) were 1120.

In 2022, undocumented Indian migrants surprisingly increased, numbers of undocumented Indian migrants in three months are equal to the number of undocumented Indian migrants in 2021 (October 2020 to September 2021) which is 2588.

On the US Northern Land (US-Canada) Border, the total number of undocumented Indian migrants apprehend at Northern Land Border by US Border Patrol (USBP) and Office of Field Operations (OFO) in 2022 FYTD (Oct 2021 to Apr 2022) were 5700 Indians, where in 2021 (Oct 2020 till Sep 2021) were 2225, 2020 (Oct 2019 till Sep 2020) were 3128.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 9, 2022 at 5:13pm

Since the beginning of the 2022 fiscal year that started last October, a record 16,290 Indian citizens have been taken into US custody at the Mexican border. The previous high of 8,997 was recorded in 2018.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-immigration-why-indians-fleeing-231910481...

Experts point to a number of reasons for the increase, including a climate of discrimination in India, an end to pandemic-era restrictions, a perception that the current US administration is welcoming to asylum seekers and the ramping-up of previously established smuggling networks.

While some migrants are coming to the US for economic reasons, many are fleeing persecution back home, said Deepak Ahluwalia, an immigration lawyer who has represented Indian nationals in Texas and California.

The latter group range from Muslims, Christians and "low-caste" Hindus to members of India's LGBT community who fear violence at the hands of extreme Hindu nationalists, or supporters of secessionist movements and farmers from the Punjab region, which has been shaken by protests since 2020.

Conditions for many of these groups have deteriorated in recent years, international observers say.

Immigrants such as Mr Singh often see the US as "the ultimate gateway" to a better life, said Mr Ahluwalia, the lawyer.

The enormous distances involved, however, make the trip to the US extremely challenging.

Traditionally, Indian migrants who arrive at the US-Mexican border use "door-to-door" smuggling services, with journeys arranged from India to South America. They are often guided the entire way and travel in small groups with their fellow countrymen who speak the same language, rather than individually or with only family members.

These networks often begin with India-based "travel agents" which outsource parts of the journey to partner criminal groups in Latin America.

Jessica Bolter, an analyst at the Washington DC-based Migration Policy Institute, said that the number of Indian migrants is also rising as a result of a "ripple effect" that takes place when those who have used these services successfully recommend them to friends or family back in India.

"It naturally expands and draws more migrants," she said. "Of course, that doesn't happen without migrants wanting to leave originally."

The experiences of Manpreet - a 20-year-old from Punjab who asked that only his first name be used - are typical of those who have taken the southern route in the past. A vocal critic of India's ruling BJP (Bharatiya Jannata Party), he fled the country after being persecuted for his political beliefs.

"From Ecuador I took a bus to Colombia, and from Colombia I took a bus to Panama," Manpreet recalled in an interview with the BBC from California. "From there, via a boat, I [went to] Nicaragua and Guatemala, and then Mexico and entered the US."

Even guided by seasoned smugglers, the trip to the border is often one that is fraught with dangers, including robberies and extortion at the hands of local gangs or corrupt authorities or extreme weather, injuries and illness.

These dangers were highlighted in 2019, when a 6-year-old Indian girl from Punjab was found dead in the scorching desert near the border town of Lukeville, Arizona - a case that made headlines in India. It was later reported that she died in temperatures of over 42 C (108 F) after her mother left her with a group of other Indians to go search for water.

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 17, 2023 at 8:22am

More than 150 #Indian students face expulsion from #Canada over #fake papers. In a similar case four years ago, 129 Indian students in the #US were arrested for enrolling in a fake university. #fraud #India #education #visa https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64988228

"My mind is dark. I cannot move forward, nor go back," says Dimple K, an Indian woman who's been living in Canada on a student visa since December 2017.

She is now among more than 150 Indian students who have been told to leave the country by the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA).

The CBSA alleges these students arrived in the country on the basis of forged college admission letters.

The students claim innocence and insist that they were duped by their immigration consultation agency in India that provided them the document.

Many who received the eviction letters are now embarrassed to come forward, fearing stigma.

Living in a western country is seen as a matter of prestige by many Indian families, especially in Punjab, the state to which Dimple belongs.

In a similar case four years ago, 129 Indian students in the US were arrested for enrolling in a fake university.

Emails sent by the BBC to the Indian high commission in Canada and the Canadian high commission in India did not get a response.

Dimple is married and comes from a middle-class family in Jalandhar district. Daughter of a tailor father and a homemaker mother, she has three siblings.

A post-graduate in science, she tried to get a job in India for a long time, but was unsuccessful.

The hope of a better life with her husband prompted her to apply for a student visa in Canada.

From her cousin, she heard of an immigration agency - which police say has been shut for the past seven months - and used its services to get a Canadian visa.

"The agency told me that one of the colleges had accepted my documents, and gave me the admission letter which they said was from the college," she tells the BBC over phone.

Dimple paid the agency 1.2m rupees ($14,525; £11,970). The amount was to cover her college fee. The agency also gave her a certificate to prove that she had funds to take care of living expenses in Canada.

But Dimple says within two days of her arrival in the country, she was informed by the agency that there had been a strike in her college. They advised to apply to another college.

In December 2019, Dimple completed her diploma in computer networking and received her work permit. But in May 2022, a year after she had applied for permanent residency, she was informed by Canadian authorities that her application had a forged document.

In January, she was served an exclusion order - which usually means an order to leave the country. She has been told to leave Canada and not return for at least five years.

She has challenged the order in a federal court in Canada.

Her attorney Jaswant Singh Mangat is representing over three dozen students who are in a similar situation.

In most of these cases, he says, fake admission letters were provided at an exorbitant fees. These were used to obtain visas.

After finishing their courses, many of these students obtained their work permits and then applied for permanent residency. That's when the immigration department discovered that there were issues with their admission documents.

"Couldn't immigration officials detect the documents were fake at the airport, or while issuing student visas, [so] how was I expected to find that out?," asks Dimple.

Comment

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page