Haq's Musings: India and China Top Mexico as Sources of Illegal Immigration to USA
India left Mexico behind as the top country sending
illegal immigrants into the United States as of 2012, according to several
media reports.
A more recent review of 2013 immigration data shows that China replaced India and Mexico as the top country of origin for immigrants to the United States. The 2013
American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, recorded 1,201,000 immigrants. Of those, 125,000 came from Mexico, 129,000 came from India, and 147,000 came from China. The previous year, Mexican immigration (125,000) just topped Chinese immigration (124,000).
Pew Research has found that Indians constitute four per cent of the total illegal immigrants living in the US, a country where the overall unauthorized immigrant population has remained unchanged since 2009.
Mexicans still make up about half of all unauthorized immigrants (52%), though their numbers have been declining in recent years. There were 5.9 million Mexican unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2012, down from 6.4 million in 2009, according to
Pew Research Center estimates.
Ranking second to Mexico is El Salvador (675,000 in 2012), followed by Guatemala (525,000), India (450,000), Honduras (350,000), China (300,000) and the Philippines (200,000). But largely because of a marked decline in Mexican unauthorized immigrants since 2009, the shares of unauthorized immigrants from other nations and regions have grown. The sudden reversal of a long trend of growth in the number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants probably results from both a marked decline in new arrivals and an increase in departures to Mexico.
Among the states in America, Indians make up the largest undocumented immigrant group in New Hampshire. While the Indian illegal immigrants comprise second largest population in Indiana with four per cent, the percentages in other states were Michigan (4%), Minnesota (9%), New Jersey (11%), Ohio (11%), Pennsylvania (11%) and Washington (5%), the report said. Indians are the third largest unauthorized immigrants in Alaska (4%), Arizona (2%), Delaware (7%), Illinois (5%), Kansas (5%), Massachusetts (10%), Missouri (9%)and Oregon (2%).
Since the US-Mexico border crackdown on illegal immigration via Arizona and Texas, the Indian human smugglers have changed their trafficking pattern from Guatemala and Mexico land route to Haiti sea route, says a
US government report.
Many surveys conducted in India over the years indicate that millions of Indians want to leave India to settle abroad. A quick
Google search for
"Escape from India" produces nearly 100 million results. Many Indians cite
lack of opportunity,
poverty and various forms of
discrimination as the reasons for wanting to leave India.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
Illegal Immigration From India to US
How to Escape From India?
India: Home to World's Largest Population of Poor, Hungry and Illiterates
India's Share of World's Poor Jumps to 33%
Caste Apartheid in India
Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Escape from India's Caste System
Female Genocide Unfolding in India
Haq's Musings: India and China Top Mexico as Sources of Illegal Immigration to USA
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