The terrifying risks Indians are taking to reach the US illegally
Indian families have reportedly frozen to death, drowned and been kidnapped by their smugglers as they tried to reach the US – and the number of those willing to risk their lives in their desperate quest is growing.
Indians are now the third largest group of illegal migrants to America.
According to a 2022 report by Pew Research Centre, there are 725,000 unauthorised Indian immigrants in the US, making them the third largest group after those from Mexico and El Salvador.
Last year, the US Border Protection Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, apprehended 96,917 Indians – a number that has tripled in just two years. And these are just the ones who got caught.
They go to any lengths, putting their lives in the hands of criminal gangs, to reach the shores of America. Some were kidnapped, others killed by the criminal gangs that had promised to smuggle them into the US.
A couple and their two children froze to death just a few metres from the US-Canada border in 2022, according to Sky News’ US affiliate NBC and other reports. Another family drowned trying to enter the United States from Canada by boat across the St Lawrence River, local media said.
Lucrative racket
Trafficker Joginder said ‘If I don’t do it then someone else will’
The racket is estimated to be worth a billion dollars, with each hopeful paying anything from $50,000 (£38,000) to $100,000 (£76,000) for the chance to reach that dream destination.
The trade is so lucrative and demand insatiable that there are now thousands of traffickers involved, mostly in the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana.
Last December a chartered plane to Nicaragua made a technical stop at Valery Airport in France. Authorities detained all 303 Indian passengers onboard, suspecting they were being trafficked.
Joginder (not his real name), a trafficker, told Sky News: “I send about 500 every season, and there are three seasons in a year.
“Ask anyone who has a big house and they will say their child is abroad. It’s a fashion, a competition. Families sell their land, jewellery and even their homes to send.”
Joginder said that [not all] “reach their destination as 10 to 12% die on the way or are killed for not paying”.
He said: “The mafia control the borders. On the route many wrong incidents take place, and terrible things happen to women, I can’t say it here. But they have to bear it to reach America.
“We also feel the pain. For the family who loses someone, the pain is much more. But both feel pain. But it’s business, they want to go and I send them.”
‘Dunki flights’
‘Dunki flights’, a Punjabi phrase for ‘hopping routes’, is the most widespread means used.
Smugglers send migrants to countries with lax visa rules or easy access like Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, or Guatemala. From here they begin their long trek led by coyotes and controlled by criminal gangs.
The routes and their difficulties depend on the amount of money paid. Payments are made at predetermined stages during the journey, with the final amount handed over at the US border.
Indian authorities have recently started a crackdown on smuggler networks. But the pace and scale are overwhelming.
Ms Upasana, superintendent of police, in Kaithal, Haryana, tells Sky News: “It’s now a culture where people feel a sense of pride that their child is abroad.
“This year we have registered 46 criminal cases and arrested 75 people involved.
“Those abroad upload photos of themselves with big bungalows and cars and the youth get attracted and want the same.
“Children tell their parents, ‘Either I die or you send me’.”
‘I had lost all hope of living’
Subhash Kumar paid a gang $50,000 and was flown to Kathmandu, where he was kidnapped, threatened and held for ransom
One of those who tried, 36-year-old Subhash Kumar, says he’s lucky to be alive and wishes to erase the few weeks of his attempt at a ‘dunki flight’.
He spent his savings and borrowed money to pay a gang $50,000. He was flown to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, where he was kidnapped, threatened and held for ransom on the outskirts of the city.
The gang used forged boarding passes and visas and filmed with false backgrounds to fake his arrival at the US border. The family paid the final amount to the traffickers.
“They would put a knife to my throat and threaten me to confirm things. I had lost all hope of living,” Mr Kumar said.
“I just wanted to speak to my wife and children for the last time. I was a dead man there. I had no hope.
“They even played airport announcements in the background while we spoke to our family, to show we had reached foreign cities.”
He was eventually rescued, along with 10 other Indians, when police, acting on a tip-off, raided the building and arrested the kidnappers.
But many are not as lucky.
‘Killed for money’
Malkeet Singh, a 30-year-old technology graduate, dreamed of going to America.
The family sold property and took loans to pay traffickers. He travelled to Doha, Almaty, Istanbul, Panama City and reached El Salvador.
He told his younger brother Rajiv they would begin trekking to Guatemala the next day.
Malkeit Singh reached El Salvador before his family lost contact with him
On 7 March all contact was lost. Three weeks later the family identified his body from a video posted on social media.
Rajiv said: “My brother was killed for money, the mafia gangs involved were robbing them and fired on the people and shot him.
“Whenever I spoke to my brother, he said that these traffickers would often steal and extort from people.”
The family lodged a case against the trafficker, who was caught and jailed – and eventually returned the money.
Blood money – recompense given to the relatives of someone who has been killed – was paid and the family withdrew the case.
For 45-year-old Shiv Kumar, it’s been a never-ending search for his 19-year-old son Sahil.
A life’s savings were spent in paying smugglers but Sahil’s last message – about starting the second leg of his journey – was from Libya almost a year ago.
Sahil Kumar’s last message – about starting the second leg of his journey – was from Libya almost a year ago
Mr Kumar regularly scans the news about migrant journeys. He filed a case against the trafficker who was caught and imprisoned – but is now out on bail. He’s reached out to all agencies, state and central government – the family is desperate for closure.
“Only a family knows what it’s going through when their son is lost.
“Every human being should have the satisfaction of knowing what happened to their child. Until today we don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”
Inequality driving the trend
Even as India registers one of the fastest economic growths and is the fifth-largest economy in the world, there is a massive imbalance and inequality.
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High unemployment, stagnant incomes and distress in the rural economy coupled with an American dream have led many to take these treacherous journeys.
Superintendent Upasana said: “It’s dangerous for India that its working population, its youth, our main productive young are going outside. They do not get any good job there. Recently we find them involved in making extortion calls to businessmen here in India.”
Trafficker Joginder said getting a child abroad ‘is a fashion, a competition’
In the Mexican town of Tapachula – a hub for travelling migrants – large numbers are from India, curry houses dotting the town. A Sky News team witnessed new arrivals, as all waited for the right time to make the journey.
But with the possibility of a Trump presidency, there is an urgency to cross.
Joginder said: “The last time under Trump the rules were made very strict. That’s why there is fear among many”.
The legal route to emigrate is crowded, difficult and slow. Those determined to make the journey are willing to pay any price.
“If I don’t do it then someone else will. This has always been happening and will go on forever.”
US
Pam Bondi: Key proponent of Trump’s false 2020 election claims set to head justice department after Gaetz withdrawal
Donald Trump has pledged for years to surround himself with ultra-loyalists who can mould his government to his vision without barriers.
That’s precisely why he picked Matt Gaetz. Now he’s out, Pam Bondi is in and she’s equally loyal.
Gaetz was uniquely unpopular on Capitol Hill but ultra-MAGA and ultra-loyal to the president-elect.
He was chosen by the president-elect to do his bidding inside the Justice Department as attorney general.
Critics called his pick “a red alert moment for democracy” and the man a “gonzo agent of chaos” – language that would surely only affirm Trump’s decision in his own proudly disruptive mind.
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn despite Trump putting him forward for attorney general. Pic: AP
If it wasn’t for the fact that the president-elect is himself a convicted felon, and a man found liable in a civil court of his own sexual offences, the prospect of Gaetz, with all his baggage, making it through the nomination process would have seemed remote.
But Donald Trump’s return to the White House suggested anything is possible.
And so, beyond his loyalty, Gaetz was Trump’s test for his foot soldiers on Capitol Hill. How loyal were they? Would they wave through anyone he appointed?
It turns out that Gaetz, and the storm around his private life, was too much for a proportion of them.
At least five Senate Republicans were flatly against Matt Gaetz’s confirmation. We understand that they communicated to other senators and those close to Trump that they were unlikely to be swayed.
They included the Republican old guard like Senator Mitch McConnell.
Beyond the hard “no” senators, there were between 20 and 30 other Republicans who were very uncomfortable about having to vote for Gaetz on the Senate floor.
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Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws
The key question is whether Gaetz was Trump’s intentional wild card crazy choice that he knew, deep down, would probably never fly.
Was Gaetz the candidate he had accepted would be vetoed by senators – who would then feel compelled to wave the rest of his nominees through?
Will Pete Hegseth’s alleged sexual impropriety concern them as they consider the suitability of the former Fox News host and army major to run the Department of Defence?
What about Tulsi Gabbard, the candidate Russian state TV calls ‘our girl’, and the appropriateness of her running America’s intelligence agencies?
These are all appointments that the politicians on Capitol Hill must consider and confirm in the weeks ahead.
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There are some names being floated which will make the establishment of Washington shudder but then that’s precisely why Trump was elected. He is the disrupter. He said so at every rally, on repeat.
He was quick to pivot to another name to replace Gaetz.
Bondi is the former attorney general of Florida. Professionally she is in a different league to Gaetz. She’s been a tough prosecutor, with a no-nonsense reputation.
She is also among the most loyal of loyalists. Her attachment to Trump stretches way back.
Pam Bondi speaks during a Trump rally in November 2024. Pic: Reuters
I first came across her in Philadelphia in November 2020 when she was among Trump surrogates claiming the election back then had been stolen from them by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
She was a key proponent of the false claims the election had been rigged and Trump was the rightful winner.
The court cases concluding that was all nonsense didn’t seem to convince her.
Now she is poised to head up the Department of Justice as the country’s top law enforcement official.
US
Donald Trump on day one: Pace of change ‘like nothing you’ve seen in history’, warns campaign official
Within hours of taking office, president-elect Donald Trump plans to begin rolling out policies including large-scale deportations, according to his transition team.
Sky News partner network NBC News has spoken with more than half a dozen people familiar with the executive orders that his team plans to enact.
One campaign official said changes are expected at a pace that is “like nothing you’ve seen in history”, to signal a dramatic break from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Trump is preparing on day one to overturn specific policies put in place by Mr Biden. Among the measures, reported by sources close to the transition team, are:
• The speedy and large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants
• Ending travel reimbursement for military members seeking abortion care
• Restricting transgender service members’ access to gender-affirming care
But much of the first day is likely to focus on stopping illegal immigration – the centrepiece of Trump’s candidacy. He is expected to sign up to five executive orders aimed at dealing with that issue alone after he is sworn in on 20 January.
“There will without question be a lot of movement quickly, likely day one, on the immigration front,” a top Trump ally said.
“There will be a push to make a huge early show and assert himself to show his campaign promises were not hollow.”
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Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.
But Mr Trump’s campaign pledges also could be difficult to implement.
Deporting people on the scale he wants will be a logistical challenge that could take years. Questions also remain about promised tax cuts.
Meanwhile, his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours would be near impossible.
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Even so, advisers based at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or at nearby offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, are reportedly strategising about ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Following his decisive victory on 5 November, the president-elect has moved swiftly to build a cabinet and senior White House team.
As of Thursday, he had selected more than 30 people for senior positions in his administration, compared with just three at a similar point in his 2016 transition.
Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser in Mr Trump’s campaign, told NBC News: “The thing to realise is Trump is no dummy.
“He knows he’s got two to three years at most to get anything done. And then he becomes a lame duck and we start talking about [the presidential election in] 2028.”
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