Washington: The United States has seen a mysterious surge of asylum seekers from India entering America illegally through the southwestern desert state of Arizona bordering Mexico, according to a media report.
Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of Indians over the past year have asked for asylum claiming to fear they may be persecuted if returned to their country, the Arizona Republic published in Phoenix, said in an investigative report.
They arrive after paying as much as $35,000 to be smuggled halfway around the globe, flying from India to Central America and then embarking on an arduous and often dangerous 3,000-mile journey through several countries, including Mexico, to reach Arizona, it said.
Some have been caught crossing illegally by the Border Patrol. More often, they are simply turning themselves in at legal border crossings in Nogales, Arizona, asking for asylum based on claims of political persecution, the U.S. daily said.
On a nightly basis, as many as two dozen Indians who have managed to establish so-called "credible fear" of persecution during hearings with U.S. immigration asylum officers are set free at a bus station near the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport, it said.
Before their release, they are given notices to appear in immigration court at a future date, when a judge will decide whether to grant asylum.
In addition to the many hundreds who have already been released, hundreds more remain in detention centres in Eloy and Florence waiting for credible-fear hearings, the Republic said.
It is unclear, however, whether those asking for asylum are legitimately fleeing persecution and whether they intend to show up for their asylum hearings, the daily said.
In fiscal year 2012, nearly 10 percent of Indian asylum seekers failed to show up for their final asylum hearings in U.S. immigration courts nationwide, the daily said citing the Department of Justice.
