The American dream was once such a phenomenon among Indians that many of them were willing to take illegal routes, cross multiple borders, endure harsh conditions, and spend a lot of money just to be on American soil. However, the wave seems to be receding, as Indian illegal immigration to the US has seen a 69% decline as of 2023.
The significant decline in numbers appears in US border authorities’ records through May of fiscal year 2026.
As previously reported by HT, 20,614 encounters with Indian migrants were recorded this fiscal year, compared to 67,000 encounters in fiscal 2023, which was the peak of illegal immigration involving Indians.
The sharpest decline is said to have been around the US land border. The Southwest Side recorded just 417 encounters with Indian migrants, down 99% from what was seen in fiscal year 2023, and the northern border recorded 2,250 encounters, down 91% from the same period in fiscal year 2024.
This number raises a pertinent question: What has led to this dramatic decline in the number of Indians attempting illegal entry into the United States?
Trump’s major campaign
The answer to this question may lie in Trump’s intensification of illegal immigration and crackdowns and the significant increase in deportations of what the US administration describes as “illegal aliens” since the beginning of the president’s second term. Indians were also greatly affected by this repressive campaign.
In the first half of 2026 alone, 1,076 Indians were deported from the US, according to a Ministry of External Affairs report released in June, highlighting the scale of the anti-immigration crackdown just six months into the year.
Last year, this number exceeded 3,500, the highest in 16 years, according to figures presented by the government to Parliament in 2025.
In February last year, Indian deportees were returned in batches, with planes landing in Amritsar and Delhi. The shackling of women and children on board a deportation flight around the same time also sparked controversy.
Read also: Dozens of Indians are likely to be deported from Canada this year on criminal grounds
Did fear of deportation affect Indians?
Just over a month after the release of the latest MEA report on the number of Indian deportees, a peek at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows how the crackdown has dramatically impacted the rush for illegal entry into the United States. As previously reported by HT, encounters with Indian migrants trying to cross the southwestern border from Mexico are down 99%, while those along the northern border with Canada are down 91%.
This decline is largely due to Trump’s campaign against immigration. According to Gilbert Guerra of the Niskanen Center, people are becoming aware that the cost that goes into making these illegal trips is no longer proportional to the outcome anymore, which may cause a decline in illegal immigration.
Read also: Which country has deported the largest number of Indians in the past five years? No, it’s not the United States
“They are not the kind of people that people can try over and over again the way they could if they were from Guatemala, for example, and they can easily try if they fail first,” Guerra says of illegal immigrants from India. “There is a lot of money that has to be invested in order to achieve a result.”
(With inputs from Shashank Mattoo)
