"But it's business, they want to go and I send them."
Indians are the third largest group of illegal migrants to the United States and they are risking everything for a taste of the American Dream.
In 2023, the US Border Protection Agency apprehended 96,917 Indians.
But those who haven’t been caught go to any lengths to enter America.
In 2022, a couple and their two children froze to death just a few metres from the US-Canada border. Another family drowned trying to enter the US.
A £750 million racket, hopefuls paying between £38,000 and £76,000 for a chance to enter the US.
It is such a lucrative trade that there are now thousands of traffickers involved, mostly in Punjab and Haryana.
One trafficker said: “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.”
However, not every Indian reaches their destination as “10 to 12% die on the way or are killed for not paying”.
The trafficker continued: “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.”
In most cases, smugglers send migrants to countries with relaxed visa rules or easy access like Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, or Guatemala. From here they begin their long trek to the USA.
Routes 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 are cracking down on smuggler networks. However, the pace and scale are too much.
One person who illegally tried to enter the US was Subhash Kumar.
He spent his savings and borrowed money to pay a gang £38,000.
Subhash was flown to Kathmandu, Nepal, where he was kidnapped, threatened and held for ransom.
The gang used forged boarding passes and visas, filming with false backgrounds to fake his arrival at the US border. The final sum of money was paid by his family.
Subhash said: “They would put a knife to my throat and threaten me to confirm things. I had lost all hope of living.
“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 and 10 other Indians were rescued when police raided the building and arrested the kidnappers.
But many are not so lucky.
Malkeet Singh’s family sold property and took loans to pay traffickers. He travelled to Doha, Almaty, Istanbul, Panama City and reached El Salvador.
Malkeet told his brother Rajiv they would begin trekking to Guatemala the next day.
But all contact was soon lost and three weeks later, Malkeet’s body was identified by his family from a video on social media.
Rajiv explained: “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.”
A case was lodged against the trafficker, who returned the money.
Although India is the fifth-largest economy in the world, high unemployment and static incomes remain.
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.”
Loading ...