Is Trump’s crackdown behind drop in illegal immigration from India to US?

There is a steep decline in Indians' illegal immigration to the US. The figure from 2023 has seen a 69 per cent drop. The wave of Indians illegally immigrating to the US now appears to be simmering down.

Decline in illegal immigration from India to US

The US border authorities have recorded 20,614 encounters with Indian migrants through May of fiscal year (FY) 2026.

During the first eight months of FY2023, encounters involving Indian migrants peaked at 67,000, according to an analysis of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

In this financial year, 20,614 encounters with Indian migrants were recorded- which is a 69 per cent drop from FY2023's 67,000, Hindustan Times reported.

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The steepest decline has reportedly been recorded along the US land borders.

Encounters with Indian migrants at the southwestern border dropped to just 417—a 99 per cent plunge from FY2023. The northern border registered 2,250 encounters, down 91 per cent from the same period in FY2024. This has raised a bigger question about what's driving the huge decline.

Trump's big crackdown effect?

The rationale behind the massive drop is US President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and an increase in the number of large-scale deportations, which his administration described as “illegal aliens." Indians are hugely impacted by this crackdown.

According to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) report released in June, in the first half of 2026 alone, 1,076 Indians were deported from America.

Over 3,800 Indians deported from the US in 2025, the ruling government informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. File Image/Reuters

The number surpassed 3,500 last year, the highest in the past 16 years, according to figures presented by the government in Parliament in 2025.

Last February, Indian nationals were deported in batches on flights landing in Amritsar and Delhi. The use of shackles on women and children during one of those deportation flights also drew sharp criticism and prompted controversy.

Encounters with Indian migrants, who tried to cross the southwestern border from Mexico, have nosedived to 99 per cent. Encounters along the northern border with Canada have fallen by 91 per cent, HT reported.

Several of these illegal immigrants use what is often called the donkey route or ‘dunky route’ to enter the US without required documents.

According to Gilbert Guerra of the Washington-based Niskanen Centre, those who undertake these illegal trips to reach the US have come to realise the consequences, hence there is the steepest decline.

“I think what we’ve seen is that making it so that people do not think that they actually have a chance of a good outcome if they come here through these channels does have an impact," Guerra told the publication.

With inputs from agencies