Most of America’s exile is from Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat

On his arrival in Amritsar, leaving an Indian airport exempted from America, give credit for the picture: –

of 332 unspecified Indian immigrants The people of Punjab were responsible for the highest shares (38%) from the US in 2025, followed by the people of Haryana (33%), and Gujarat (22%), as shown in Chart 1 . The rest were exile. From Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and other states and UT.

Chart 1 | The chart reflects the state-wise shares of Indian citizens exempted from the US in 2025

A recent research paper published by the University of Johns Hopkins also found that between October 2001 and November 2022, 66% of those seeking asylum in the US were Punjabi speakers. About 14% were Hindi speakers, 8% English speakers, and 7% were Gujarati speakers. Paper showed a sharp spike among those who felt asylum from India from India after 2016, in which Punjabi speakers made a majority.

In fact, this year all three flights carrying Indian exile from the US landed at the Amritsar International Airport, which led to a dispute. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann It is alleged that the Center is deliberately doing to discredit the state. The Center argued that Amritsar is the nearest international airport for flights entering India from America.

While the latest wave of exile made headlines since the exile Handcare and chain During his visit, this is not an incident that has emerged after renewed action on illegal migrants of US President Donald Trump. since 2009, 15,897 unspent Indian immigrants The US (Chart 2) has been deported.

Chart 2 | The chart shows the number of uninterrupted Indian migrants from America since 2009

Most exile took place in 2019 (2,042), followed by 2020 (1,889), and 2024 (1,368). It is also important to note that the number of Indians who tried to illegally enter America have increased in recent years. A decade ago, US border authorities did not stop more than 1,500 Indian illegal migrants. The figure increased rapidly to 96,917 in 2023 and 90,415 in 2024.

News reports have also highlighted how most Indian migrants were cheated by fraud agents, who promised them better possibilities in exchange for huge amounts. The amount paid by Indians to illegally enter the US was between 20 lakhs and ₹ 1.25 crore.

A total of 3,042 illegal agents have been identified by June 2024 (Chart 3), with the highest number of agents in Andhra Pradesh, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In the last four years, 4,361 complaints have been registered to woo Indians with proposals for false recruitment against illegal agents.

Chart 3 | The chart reflects the state-wise number of illegal agents identified by June 2024

The interviews with the exile have highlighted the dangerous journeys that have highlighted the dangerous journeys in search of a better life. A popular way to go to America is known as the “donkey passage”.

It refers to hard journey in countries, forests and seas, often without proper food and water. A section of immigrants ends on the southwestern border of America like traveling on dangerous routes Darian gap between Panama and ColombiaWhile others pass through the northern border of America

Chart 4 shows that Indians prefer both Canadian (North) and South-West (Mexican) borders to illegally enter the US. A new York Times The report shows that the sharp spike was prominently fuel by Indians in illegal crossings from the Canadian border.

Chart 4 | The chart shows the number of Indian migrants coming to the US on the south -west and northern border.

Apart from those who attempt to illegally enter the US illegally, there are many who have abolished their visa after being admitted to the US for business, studies, or other objectives (Chart 5).

Chart 5 | The chart shows the number of Indians who have abolished their visa after being admitted to the US for various purposes.

While such overstays have declined after epidemic, most of them have entered the US for business or bliss every year, close to 17,000 people.

Source: Data for the chart was obtained from Lok Sabha answers and US customs and border security