Rape, torture, death: How illegal Indian immigrants risk it all to reach the US

A United States aircraft has landed at the Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport in Amritsar. But this isn’t any ordinary plane; it’s a military jet carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants that the US has deported.

According to officials, the US military plane C-17 is carrying 104 illegal immigrants, mostly hailing from Punjab and neighbouring states. The move comes after Donald Trump assumed office as the US president and launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

For those on the plane, this ends their American Dream. Many, in fact, go to great lengths — legal and even illegal — to reach the shores of America.

In today’s parlance, the route that these Indians take to reach the US is called a donkey route. But how much are some Indians willing to risk to reach the ‘land of opportunity’.

Indians wanting the ‘American Dream’

Data suggests that as of today, the US is home to 7,25,000 undocumented Indian nationals . And there are many, many more who are making their way to the US borders, hoping to hop over.

But why is it that these countless Indians want to move to the US? Most of them are seeking better economic opportunities and believe that the ‘Land of the Free’ — USA — can provide them with a better life. Many of the Indians say they believe that if they can reach a major US city, they will be able to find decent work and a better life for themselves. Some Sikhs also wish to move fearing persecution by Indian authorities cracking down on the Khalistan movement.

And it’s this drive that pushes Indians to risk it all to reach the US. As Rahul Verma of the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research told The Hindu the number of Indians betting it all to migrate is as much about aspiration as fleeing poverty, migration. “People are trying to find better job prospects wherever they get them… even if that means doing low-end jobs abroad… just for better pay.”

Sneha Puri, immigration analyst at Niskanen Centre, a Washington-based think tank, believes it’s more than just better jobs that attracts Indians to the US. “While motivations vary, economic opportunity remains the primary driver, reinforced by social networks and a sense of pride in having family members ‘settled’ in the US,” she told the BBC.

In fact, Indians have come to make up the third-largest group of undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to the Pew Research Centre’s 2021 estimates.

India is the only country in the top five outside Latin America, and since 2011, the number of undocumented Indians in the United States has grown by 70 per cent, the fastest growth of all nationalities. Figures from US Customs and Border Protection show that the number of undocumented Indian immigrants increased the fastest between 2020 and 2023.

Risking it all on ‘donkey routes’

With these grand plans of making it in America, countless Indians then opt for the ‘Dunki’ routes , also known as ‘donkey routes’ in English. The term is derived from the Punjabi word “dunki” which means to hop from place to place.

So, what does it entail? It means that these people who want access to America make a journey that involves making multiple stops in different countries such as Central American nations like Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala. From there, they then hope to cross over into the US on foot with the help of agents and human smugglers.

Still confused about how it works? We explain.

It all begins with reaching out to an agent, who promises to get you to the US — the dream destination. A hopeful has to shell out anything from $50,000 (Rs 44 lakh) to $100,000 (Rs 87 lakh) to these agents to get you to the US.

One such trafficker was quoted as telling Sky News, “I send about 500 every season, and there are three seasons in a year.”

Once a contract is secured, the hopeful is taken to a country with relatively favourable visa requirements, before landing in Latin America — countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia, or Guyana. In some cases, the agents arrange direct visas for Mexico from Dubai.

However, reaching any of the countries in Latin America is only the first and, in fact, the simplest of the steps. It is from here the migrants begin a perilous journey through treacherous jungles to the US-Mexico border.

Traffickers say that not everyone survives this arduous journey. One told Sky News that not all “reach their destination as 10 to 12 per cent die on the way or are killed for not paying”.

The family of one such Indian, who made this journey told CNN that it began with first flying to Dubai; and then to Almaty, Kazakhstan. From there, the man travelled to Turkey, where he transited at Istanbul airport for 24 hours, before boarding a plane to Panama City and then San Salvador. There, he met with a smuggler and disconnected his phone before embarking on the toughest, most strenuous leg of the journey: north, towards Guatemala. However, it was all for naught. The family later learned that the man had been shot and killed by criminals on a riverbank on the El Salvador-Guatemala border.

Another Indian, who made a similar journey five years ago also doesn’t paint a rosy picture. Harjinder Singh from Jalandhar told the Indian Express that he too experienced a similar journey — the only difference is that he survived.

Promised a safe entry to the USA, Singh left for Dubai in June 2019 but soon reality hit him. “We were plonked on horses for crossing a mountain and a stream. From Colombia, we reached Cali after an eight-hour bus ride… we went towards the coastal town of Turbo before taking a boat into the heart of the Panama jungle, where we were joined by a group of 15 African immigrants,” he said.

Harjinder then spent over 10 days to cross the 105 km stretch of the Panama jungle. “We crossed at least 40 bodies, some half eaten and some skeletons… It’s been five years but I still get nightmares of crossing that stretch. After days, we saw soldiers. It was relief and fear. They shoved us in a camp where I slept after days,” he told Indian Express.

“Finally, we were taken to a camp in Veracruz… we were made to talk to US border officials through video conferencing… We thought we will go to the USA but we were deported to India,” he said.

Some India hopefuls are even subjected to rape.

‘Dying’ for entry into America

For many, the desire to live in America outranks the dangers — even death. Take for instance, the tale of Jagdish Patel , his wife and their two young children — the family from Gujarat — who froze to death just a few metres from the US-Canada border in 2022.

Hailing from Gujarat’s Dingucha, they thought of a better life in the US and began their deadly journey. They walked amid vast farm fields and bulky snowdrifts, navigating in the black of an almost-moonless night and were expected to be picked up by a trafficker. However, a day before their scheduled pickup, the Patel family was found dead — US authorities found Jagdish’s frozen arms around the body of his three-year-old son.

But the Patel family isn’t an isolated case, unfortunately. In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from the freezing St Regis River in Canada.

But no matter the hazards of taking these donkey routes, thousands of Indians opt for them, fully knowing that the road ahead is perilous, and, in some cases, even fatal.

With inputs from agencies