India’s federal government is cracking down on illegal blue-collar emigration from India as it tries to protect Indians’ white-collar H-1B access to Americans’ jobs and careers.
The crackdown is a political appeasement of growing U.S. anger about the scale of Indians’ migration into the United States. The U.S. anger is a major risk for India’s government, which gains enormous remittances from the movement of Indians into millions of U.S. white-collar jobs via the H-1B program.
At least 750,000 Indians have migrated illegally into the U.S. economy, partly because the growing Indian population of roughly 500,000 H-1B workers supports many Indian-owned businesses and lower-wage service jobs. That commingled legal and illegal movement of roughly four million Indians has been encouraged by multiple Indian and U.S. governments — just as Mexico’s government also encourages migration into Americans’ jobs.
India is a vast, chaotic, and jostling nation of more than 1.4 billion people. Half of the population earns less than $273 per month, so even a few month’s work in low-wage, black-market U.S. jobs is a big draw for young and desperate unmarried men. Many families have sold farms and livestock to launch their sons into low-wage service jobs somewhere in the United States, often causing much trauma in Indian communities.
But now the Indian government wants to show Americans and Indians that it is blocking illegal migration and accepting the repatriation of illegal migrants.
Most of the new police crackdown took place in Punjab, a state in Northern India. Punjabis comprise 40 percent of the Indian migrants who have been recently deported by President Donald Trump’s deputies after India’s government stopped blocking deportations.
“The Punjab Police conducted raids and search operations at 1,274 immigration firms across the state following which 24 [police reports] were registered and seven travel agents arrested,” said a February 25 report in IndianExpress.com.
Many of the deported migrants claimed they wanted to migrate legally, but were deceived by the smugglers. This claim is accepted by the Indian police and media because it shifts the embarrassing blame from the government to the Indian people-smugglers.
IndianExpress.com reported:
Of the 332 illegal immigrants deported by US who landed in Amritsar in three military aircraft, 126 were from Punjab, 10 from Haryana and two each from Chandigarh, and Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently four other Punjabis landed after being deported via Panama. Most of the deportees have alleged that they were duped by the travel agents. They claimed despite taking huge sums of money from them and promising legal entry, they were taken to the US through the “dunki route”– illegal and risky pathway of moving via several countries to enter America.
In the United States, lobbyists promote a comparable deceptive narrative as they insist that India’s low-wage, mixed-skill college graduates are needed to do the white-collar jobs sought by many skilled but unemployed American professionals.
The lobbyists’ insistence on a need for Indian workers has caused a massive loss of jobs, careers, and wealth among U.S. college graduates. That damage has long been hidden by establishment media sites — such as Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post — but is being increasingly recognized as U.S. graduates recognize they are being sidelined for the benefit of migrants, investors, and the U.S. companies whose exports to India are funded by remittances from India’s 500,000 H-1B workers and various additional L-1, B-1/B-2, and J-1 white-collar workers.
In response, India has agreed to reduce the illegal migration to the United States and to accept the return of Indian migrants deported by President Donald Trump.
Amid the crackdown, the Indian media is shifting the blame from the Indian government’s pro-migration policy to the people smugglers who supposedly deceived young Indian men.
“Instead of a legal entry as promised, Mandeep’s travel agent put him on the ‘donkey route’ — an illegal and risky pathway used by migrants to enter the U.S.,” IndiaToday.In reported on February 21:
Speaking to reporters in Amritsar, Mandeep (38) showed several videos of the perilous journey his travel agent and sub-agents put him through
…
“Here we were told by fellow travellers that if we ask too many questions, we could be shot. For 13 days, we moved through the treacherous route that included 12 canals. Crocodiles, snakes — we had to bear all. Some were given sticks to deal with the dangerous reptiles,” he said.
The long smuggling routes kill many migrants and impoverish the migrants who are caught and sent back home deep in debt to local lenders. The poignant stories have prompted some Indian media outlets to do undercover investigations of the smuggling groups.
“After reaching his home town Wednesday night, Jaspal [Singh] said he was defrauded by a travel agent as he was promised that he would be sent to the US in a legal way,” NDTV.com reported. It continued:
“I had asked the agent to send me through a proper visa. But he deceived me,” said Jaspal. He said that the deal was done at Rs 30 lakh [almost $35,000].
Jaspal claimed that he reached Brazil by air in July last year. He said he was promised that the next leg of journey, to the US, would be by air too. However, he was “cheated” by his agent, who forced him to cross the border illegally.
Deported migrant Harwinder Singh told NDTV.com about the northward trek through the Darien Gap in Panama: “We crossed 17-18 hills. If one slipped, then there would be no chance that he would survive… We have seen a lot. If anybody got injured, he was left to die. We saw dead bodies.”
Many Indians also smuggle themselves into Europe and especially to the United Kingdom, where they can hide in the growing Indian population. On February 21, IndiaToday.In reported:
Our investigation uncovered the widespread use of contractual marriages to secure visas under the pretext of dependent spouses …
[Smuggler]: Once in the UK, the [man] will work for two years, and the girl will study. The [man] must cover all her expenses. After her studies, she will get a work permit, and they can go their separate ways.
Another smuggler offered to move Indian criminals to a new country, saying:
Reporter: Madam, I am telling you that he has a case [an indictment] under Section 307 (Attempt to Murder).
[Smuggler]: You don’t have to show anything. We don’t take any records. If you go on a tourist visa, it doesn’t show up.
Under President Joe Biden, U.S. officials eased the transfer of many Indians into the United States, often via Canada and Mexico. In contrast, Trump is blocking the inflow, and sending Indian illegals home — but has yet to announce curbs on Indian white-collar migration via the H-1B, J-1, or L-1 programs.
In March, Trump’s officials are going to start the annual process of importing the next wave of H-1B workers, including around 90,000 Indians and their families, amid cheerleading from pro-Indian U.S. politicians.
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