Circle the Wagons

(Harlingen, Texas) Throughout 2009, U.S. border authorities apprehended an average of less than 10 Indian nationals per month illegally crossing the Rio Grande River into South Texas.

In the last three months of 2010, the average number of subcontinent Indians caught sneaking into the U.S. via South Texas increased to more than 200.

In less than a year, the monthly number of illegal aliens caught from one country (India) has ballooned from less than 10 to more than 200.

The Indian migration in some ways mirrors the journeys of previous waves of immigrants from far-flung places, such as China and Brazil, who have illegally crossed the U.S. border here. But the suddenness and still-undetermined cause of the Indian migration baffles many border authorities and judges.

The trend has caught the attention of anti-terrorism officials because of the pipeline's efficiency in delivering to America's doorstep large numbers of people from a troubled region. Authorities interview the immigrants, most of whom arrive with no documents, to ensure that people from neighboring Pakistan or Middle Eastern countries are not slipping through.

There is no evidence that terrorists are using the smuggling pipeline, FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials said.[…]

Most of the immigrants say they are from the Punjab or Gujarat states. They are largely Sikhs who say they face religious persecution, or members of the Bharatiya Janata Party who say they are targeted for beatings by members of the National Congress Party.

But analysts and human rights monitors say political conditions in India don't explain the migration. There is no evidence of the kind of persecution that would prompt a mass exodus, they say, and Sikhs haven't been targets since the 1980s. The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, is a Sikh.

"There is no reason to believe these claims have any truth to them," said Sumit Ganguly, a political science professor and director of the India Studies Program at Indiana University.

Seeking asylum in the U.S., the Indians customarily travel from Mumbai to Dubai to South America and then up through Mexico.