“Do it or die” is the dilemma faced by many young people in India today. Poverty and lack of prospects force them to leave the country. Looking for a better tomorrow, they decide to make the long and dangerous journey to the United States. Desperate, they pay smugglers thousands of dollars to get to their destination. The smuggling route, called the donkey route, is often the end of their dreams of a better future. Most of them lose their lives or fall into the hands of border guards. To find out what human trafficking is like, CNN's Ivan Watson went to India.
Trekking through jungles and crossing rivers – a blogger from India showed his journey through Central America to the Mexican border. Last year, about 100,000 Indians crossed the border of the United States illegally. Many people call this trip the “donkey route”.
Ankit Chaudhary, a law student from India, wants to immigrate to the US. – A trail is any illegal trail that is not authorized by the United States government. It passes through many countries. Ankit Chaudhary, a law student who wants to immigrate to the United States, once cleared, you still have to cross the fence in the US.
Ankit Chaudhary is a 24-year-old law student who dreams of immigrating to America to escape unemployment in India. – I have no choice but to be unemployed – he says.
Smuggling into the USA
He is not the only young Indian who is desperate to leave. This is one of the many consequences of unemployment among young people. There are many people in the country who help young people to go abroad.
There you can find people who help Indians to get visa to study abroad. Choudhary says you can also find smugglers who specialize in the “donkey route”. – They illegally transfer such a person to the United States – says Ankit Chaudhary.
Migrants. Route between Yemen and AfricaReuters Archive
– From 150 to 200 people, – says one of the smugglers in response to the question of how many people he took to America by this route. – For about $48,000, an agent will fly to El Salvador and transport you overland to the Mexican border, he adds.
“Do it or die”
The number of Indian immigrants crossing the American border has increased in the last five years. Two Indian traffickers told CNN that they had recently almost stopped sending migrants to the United States after the Biden administration cut processing of asylum applications.
In September, Customs and Border Protection reported the lowest number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border since 2020.
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That's little consolation for Rajeev Kumar. Last year, his brother left the family farm and traveled abroad via the “donkey route”. Kumar says Indian authorities returned his body about five months later. This man was shot dead by criminals on the river bank that borders Guatemala with El Salvador.
Now the only surviving man cultivates the family farm himself. – The people here know that they will die of poverty, so they think that it is better to leave and take risks, – says Rajeev Kumar.
It is a vicious cycle of poverty and illegal immigration that is ravaging communities in this part of India.
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