Indians are one of many nationalities now entering America illegally in record numbers, with crossings on the southern border more than than twice as high as in the last fiscal year, and crossings on the northern border four times higher than in the last three years put together.
All told, U.S. Customs and Border Protection have logged 42,000 Indians crossing the southern border, and around 1,600 crossing the northern border. The figures are remarkable, given the number of Indian border crossers has only topped 5,000 four times since 2007.
Many of the Indians say they are Muslims who are claiming asylum because they dislike the Hindu nationalist program of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but others concede they are merely looking for economic opportunities.
While Venezuelans and other Latin Americans still make up the bulk of southern border crossers, India is not the only country further afield now sending the U.S. substantial numbers if migrants, with the number of Chinese entrants having also massively increased to well over 20,000.
