Deportation effect? Illegal immigration from India to the US by donkey route has seen a nearly 70% drop | Today’s news
The number of Indians who tried to enter the US illegally through the Mexican and Canadian borders after taking the donkey route saw a sharp drop last year, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data showed. According to a Hindustan Times report, between October 2025 and May 2026, there was a 69% drop in encounters with illegal immigrants from India at the US border.
Decline in illegal immigration from India to the US
CBP data showed it recorded 20,614 encounters with Indian migrants from October 2025 to May 2026. The same eight-month period in fiscal year 2023 saw the highest number of encounters with illegal migrants from India at 67,212.
An “encounter” with an illegal (or unregulated) immigrant refers to any interaction between immigration officials and foreign nationals who are attempting to cross the border without legal authorization or are in the country illegally.
The meeting includes two primary actions:
Detention: Physically taking a migrant into custody in order to initiate formal deportation proceedings.
Expulsion/Return: Stopping or immediately returning individuals across borders for public health or immediate legal reasons.
Trump’s Deportation of Illegal Immigrants
Donald Trump, who made deporting illegal immigrants a cornerstone of his 2024 presidential campaign, began mass deportations in February 2025. This included several flights to India in which detained illegal immigrants were sent back, often handcuffed and shackled throughout the journey.
The first such deportation flight to India was on February 5, when a US military aircraft landed in Amritsar with about 104 Indian citizens on board, making it the farthest deportation flight.
Since then, several military and charter flights carrying deported illegal immigrants have flown to India.
In December 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs informed Parliament that a total of 3,258 illegal immigrants were deported from India that year, the most on record.
Illegal immigration via the donkey route
According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 18,000 Indian citizens living in the U.S. illegally, making them one of the largest groups after citizens of Mexico and El Salvador.
Most of these illegal immigrants use what is often called the donkey route or the “sunk route” to enter the US without documents. According to authorities, these illegal immigrants pay anywhere in between ₹35 million and ₹80 lakhs to traffickers to take them to the US. This often involves a false travel trail through several countries before reaching Central America.
Once trafficked men, women and children reach Latin American countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia or Guyana, they are often forced to walk for days, weeks and months through forests, swamps and terrain controlled by gangs.
The journey eventually takes them to the Mexican or Canadian border, from where they attempt to enter the US and seek asylum.
