“Do it or die” – this is the dilemma many young people in India face today. Poverty and lack of prospects force them to leave the country. Looking for a better tomorrow, they decide to take a long and risky journey to the United States. Desperate, they pay smugglers thousands of dollars to reach their destination. The smuggling route, called the donkey route, is often the end of their dreams of a prosperous future. Many of them lose their lives or end up in the hands of border services. To check what people smuggling is like, CNN reporter Ivan Watson went to India.
Trekking through the jungle and crossing rivers – a blogger from India showed his journey through Central America to the border with Mexico. Nearly 100,000 Indians crossed the border into the United States illegally last year. This journey is called by many the “donkey route”.
Ankit Chaudhary, a law student from India, wants to immigrate to the USA. – The donkey trail is an illegal trail that is not permitted by the United States government. It runs through many countries. After overcoming it, you still have to cross the wall in the USA, says Ankit Chaudhary, a law student who wants to emigrate to the United States.
Ankit Chaudhary is a 24-year-old law student who dreams of migrating to the United States to escape unemployment in India. – I have no other choice due to unemployment – he says.
Smuggling to the USA
He is not the only young Indian who desperately wants to leave. This is one of the consequences of high unemployment among young people. There are many people in the country helping young people go abroad.
You can find people there who help Indians get visas to study abroad. Chaudhary says you can also find smugglers who specialize in taking the “donkey route.” – They will smuggle such a person into the United States illegally – says Ankit Chaudhary.
– From 150 to 200 people – says one of the smugglers when asked how many people he helped get to America by following this route. – For about $48,000, the agent will fly to El Salvador and smuggle you by land to the border with Mexico – he adds.
“Do it or die”
The number of Indian migrants crossing the US border has increased over the past five years. Two Indian smugglers told CNN they have almost stopped sending migrants to the United States recently after the Biden administration scaled back processing of asylum applications.
In September, Customs and Border Protection recorded the lowest number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since 2020.
That's little consolation for Rajeev Kumar. Last year, his brother left the family farm and traveled overseas via the “donkey route.” Kumar says Indian authorities returned his body almost five months later. The man was shot by criminals on the bank of the river that borders Guatemala with El Salvador.
Now the only surviving man cultivates the family's fields himself. – People here know that they will die of poverty, so they think it is better to leave and take the risk, on a do-or-die basis, says Rajeev Kumar.
It is a vicious cycle of poverty and illegal migration that is ravaging communities in this part of India.
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