The tragedy of illegal Indian immigrants
As a proud Indian citizen, I’ve squirmed, as I’m sure you’ve done too, at the painful sight of planeloads of handcuffed and chained illegal Indian immigrants being sent back home by the hyper-steroid-mode US government. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said in the US, most of these undocumented Indians are “children of very ordinary families lured by big dreams and promises.”
So how many Indians are staying illegally in the US? The numbers are varied and confusing; one set contradicts another. But an authentic source quoted by the BBC is a recent paper written by Abby Budiman and Devesh Kapur, social scientists from the Johns Hopkins University, who have researched the demographics, entry methods, locations, etc. The number of illegal immigrants vary largely, depending on the differing calculation methods. The Pew Research Center and the Center for Migration Studies of New York put the estimate at 7 lakh illegal Indian immigrants in 2022, making them the third-largest group after Mexico and El Salvador. But in contrast, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) puts the figure at 3.75 lakh, making it the fifth largest group. The official data from the Department of Homeland Security puts the number at only 2.2 lakh in 2022. The numbers may vary, but there is agreement that these numbers have dropped over the years; the reasons given are Covid and a sizeable number getting legal validation by some means.
Amidst the conflicting numbers, this research paper says that the Pew and CMS high numbers are unlikely as that would mean that one in four Indian immigrants in the US is undocumented, “an unlikely scenario given migration patterns. Indian immigrants are one of the fastest-growing groups in the US, surging from 6 lakh in 1990 to 3.2 million in 2022.” And look at how well the Indian diaspora has done in the US! Think Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Indra Nooyi…
One can argue that given India’s huge population — upward of 1.5 billion — a few lakh people are a drop in the ocean. But more than numbers, this is about pride, dignity, respect. Which Indian would be comfortable watching her countrymen being sent back like convicts? The Hindi film Aa ab laut chaley might be as cliched as such films tend to be, but it did touch a sensitive spot in the heart, and one cheered on for the protagonists who root for returning home from the US, and the recent Shahrukh Khan starrer Dunki is another heartbreaking film, even though badly made, on the same topic of illegal immigration.
The connect to Rotary lies in thousands of Indian Rotarians being engaged in improving livelihoods across the country. A decent income in a stable vocation is sufficient to prevent most people from leaving home and undertaking a dangerous journey to a foreign land. After all India is not a war-torn country or conflict-ridden region. Those who take high risks to illegally migrate to so-called wonderlands, often putting their lives in danger, would not do so if they had viable options at home… to lead a decent life. As we make giant strides across the world on the wings of technology, higher education, sharper minds, unadulterated focus and the willingness to work hard, one looks forward to the day when our fellow citizens will turn away from taking such high risks to illegally cross borders to countries which clearly don’t want them.
Woh subah kabhi toh aayegi (That dawn will come too…), as Mukesh sang so beautifully in the film Phir subah hogi.
Rasheeda Bhagat
