There has been an unprecedented surge in undocumented immigrants from India in recent years, with most entering the United States through Mexico. But as pressure mounts on the U.S.-Mexico border, many are turning to a less traditional path: crossing the vast and heavily fortified Canadian border.

U.S. border agents encountered nearly 97,000 undocumented Indian immigrants nationwide in fiscal year 2023, including more than 30,000 at the northern border, up from 2,225 in 2021, according to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) data.

That number has remained largely unchanged in recent months. Nearly 14,000 Indians were encountered at the U.S.-Canada border between October and February, compared with 619 in the same period two years ago.

The record influx is part of a surge of migrants crossing Canada that is overwhelming border security officials and unstable communities in northern U.S. states. CBP data shows that there were nearly 190,000 encounters at the Canadian border in 2023, more than six times the number in 2021.

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an increase in global migration. While people immigrate for different reasons, experts say the Biden administration’s openness to asylum seekers has attracted many immigrants to the United States.

“In general, people want to come to the United States because they’ve heard about the asylum process here,” said Chirag Patel, a Maryland-based immigration attorney who handles asylum cases in India.

Patel and other experts say the influx of asylum seekers at the border is likely to continue as they expect the November U.S. presidential election could lead to policy changes.

“People are trying to get a lot of things done by November, but if November ends up being favorable to Trump, it’s obviously going to be done by January,” Patel said.

Trickle of Indian asylum seekers into India shows changing face of unauthorized immigration to U.S.

“They come from all over the world, literally all over the world,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.

The rise in unauthorized immigration from India has made Indians the third largest group of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. There were approximately 725,000 undocumented Indians in the U.S. in 2021, more than any other country outside the Western Hemisphere, according to recent Pew Research Center data Report.

While many do claim persecution, experts say Indian asylum seekers are primarily economic immigrants attracted by the prospect of a better life in the United States.

Most are relatively wealthy by Indian standards and hail from Punjab and Gujarat, two of India’s more prosperous states with a long history of American immigrants.

“One mistake we make is thinking that immigrants are poor,” said Devesh Kapur, director of the Asia Program at Johns Hopkins University and Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies. “The poor people in South Asia simply cannot afford to fly.”

But those people often lack legal means to enter the United States. U.S. student visas are difficult to obtain, and due to a massive backlog of immigration cases, immigrant visas can take up to 20 years to obtain.

This made the “Donkey Road” the only option for many Indians eager to reach the United States. The sometimes dangerous journey across several continents is widely publicized on social media and facilitated by global human trafficking networks for a hefty fee.

The cost of traveling to the US can exceed $50,000, but even small-scale landlords in Punjab can afford it. Kapoor points out that an acre of farmland can fetch the same price in this fertile state.

Experts say that while Indian immigrants often take the Donkey Road to Mexico, many find Canada to be a faster and safer option.

Political scientist Shinder Purewal said the current Canadian government’s efforts to attract international students have made it easier for Indians to obtain visas.

“It’s easier to get a Canadian visa than a Pakistani visa,” said Prevol, who teaches at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia.

Until recently, Prevot said, Indians often moved from Canada to the United States when they were unable to obtain Canadian residency.

“More and more people are just coming into Canada now so they can go directly to the United States because the economy is better there and the job prospects are better,” Prevot said.

Canada’s immigration agency did not respond to a request for comment.

But economic prospects are not the only reason Indian immigrants choose the United States. The support of existing Indian communities in the United States also influences their decisions.

U.S. investigators recently uncovered a smuggling network that transported Gujarati immigrants from the Canadian border to Chicago-area businesses owned by Gujarati Americans.

“Everyone who comes has a way to come,” said Pawan Dhingra, associate provost and associate dean who teaches immigration studies at Amherst College. “They have ties to the country. If they just escape India, they can go anywhere in the world.”

Despite its reputation as a safe country, crossing the Canadian border can sometimes be fatal for Indian immigrants.

In January 2022, an Indian family of four was found frozen to death in Manitoba, just meters from the U.S. border. In March 2023, the bodies of eight immigrants, including four Indians, were found in the St. Lawrence River.

Maureen Silkoff, a Canadian refugee and immigration lawyer, said the extreme risks migrants face demonstrate their urgent need to escape.

“People don’t leave their homes, their communities, their families, their jobs just because they want a thrilling adventure,” Silkoff said in an interview. “People become desperate, and sometimes people have very serious violations of their human rights, and they try to alleviate these problems and other difficulties by moving to another country.”

The Indian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.