'Heartbreaking To See Deaths': US-Canada Tragedy Sheds Light On Desperate Journeys Indians Take

The success stories of the Indian-American diaspora are like a beam of hope for many back home dreaming to pursue the same. But some trails are better left un-trekked. It is not always a success story, we saw as a tragic news broke on the morning of January 21, 2022.

The human remains of an Indian family of four, including an infant and a teenager, were found just 30 feet away from the US border on the Canadian side, covered in snow.

The death of four members of the same family at the US-Canada border has now once again highlighted the dangerous journeys families are willing to risk for a better life ¨C and the groups that profit from their desperation.

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What interrogations revealed

US officials announced the arrest of Steve Shand, who faces charges of human smuggling.

¡°The investigation into the death of the four individuals in Canada is ongoing along with an investigation into a larger human smuggling operation of which Shand is suspected of being a part,¡± said John Stanley, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, in court documents.

When the officers stopped Shand's car, near the border crossing at Pembina, North Dakota, they found two Indian nationals with Shand and later intercepted a group of five. All spoke Gujarati, an Indian language. One told officials he spent a large amount of money to come to Canada under a fake student visa and planned to visit an uncle in Chicago.

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In preparation for their journey, the group were wearing brand-new winter clothing, including parkas, boots and gloves. They, along with Shand, had black balaclavas. Officers also found evidence to suggest a baby was travelling with the group, but when they couldn¡¯t find the child, they notified Canadian police.

Risks of crossing the border illegally

While the prairie landscape the group traversed is largely flat, the sprawling grain fields are deceptively dangerous in the winter. Cold winds whip relentlessly and blowing snow dramatically reduces visibility. Deep snow drifts make movement slow and tedious. All these difficulties are compounded in the dark, when the family is believed to have made their crossing attempt.

¡°Smugglers only care about the money they are going to make and have zero regard for lives lost,¡± Anthony Good, a sector chief border patrol agent in Grand Forks, said in a statement.

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¡°You just try to figure out why there would be that kind of desperation to cross the border in such terrible weather conditions. Crossing the border in the best of times, you know, is dangerous,¡± Dave Carlson, a local official for the Emerson-Franklin municipality in Manitoba told a local radio station.

Canada-US border crossing

The region has been the site of numerous crossings in recent years ¨C although most were coming from the United States into Canada after the election of former president Donald Trump.

Speaking to India Times, Sneha Sharma, a student who has recently shifted to Canada on a student visa from India, said having such dreams is not a problem but to take extreme steps to fulfil those dreams is.

"I feel like it is okay to have these dreams and aspirations to move to these countries. Nothing wrong in that but I've noticed that many people treat it like a life and death situation. You can try to immigrate and have a life here but if it doesn't happen you always have a chance to go back to your own country and start a life there," she said.

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"This bubble which we live in that life is sorted abroad needs to be busted. Life's not easy here. It's only been a month that I've come to Canada and I can see people work 10 times harder and sleep 10 times less," Sneha added.

"It all looks flowery from the outside but in real life it's pretty sad. It's heartbreaking to see deaths, people are actually dying to make a life outside India," she said.

The tragic deaths this week serve as a reminder of the risks families are willing to take, Rema Jamous Imseis, the Canadian representative for UNHCR, said in a statement. ¡°Whatever the circumstances, no one should ever have to choose such a perilous journey.¡±

What the data suggests

Irregular migration from India to Canada falls under three broad themes: Fraudulent student visa, work-related migration an fraudulent spousal PR.

According to a 2021 report published by an American think tank, the New American Economy, out of the 10.3 million undocumented immigrants in the US, 5,87,000 were from India; the third-largest share.

Human smuggling into the US is a multi-million dollar business. It¡¯s not cheap either for Indians to enter the US illegally. According to reports, it can cost anywhere between Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh per person to enter the US illegally. Smuggling through the Canadian border is still uncommon, like in the case of the ill-fated Gujarati family.

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Earlier, thousands of immigrants from India have been apprehended at the tightly controlled US-Mexico border. In 2021, 2,600 Indian nationals were caught by the US authorities at the Mexico border.

The number of illegal immigrants from India caught at the US-Mexico border was large and growing before the pandemic struck. In 2007, the number of Indian detainees, which were 76, went up to more than 7,600 in 2019.

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