- By Supratik Das
- Tue, 29 Apr 2025 05:21 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
In a deeply troubling trend, several Indian families are said to be leaving behind their children at the United States borders in a desperate attempt to secure green cards through humanitarian grounds. Official statistics indicate that at least 77 unaccompanied Indian minors were caught by US border security officials between October 2024 and February 2025 as per the reports cited by Times Of India. The majority of these children are aged between 12 and 17 years old with some as young as six. They have been seen alone on US-Mexico and US-Canada borders, holding nothing but a piece of paper with the contact information of their parents or relatives already settled in the US, often illegally.
Indian families without valid US visas are employing a tactic by shipping off their kids across the border in the hopes that their presence in the US will provide an opportunity for the family to later claim asylum or legal residency. A Times of India report stated that some Gujarati families, mainly from Mehsana district, have acknowledged this practice. In one incident, a lawyer and his wife who migrated illegally to Atlanta during the COVID-19 pandemic left behind their two-year-old son in India. Three years after, the child was brought into the US by a relative and abandoned at the Texas border with only a note containing parental contact details.
Minors As 'Green Card Tools'
According to the sources cited by Times of India 22 of the 77 children had come through Canada, while others were apprehended while trying to enter from Mexico or found in other parts of the country. These children are used as 'green card tools', assisting families in getting legal proceedings started under humanitarian or asylum provisions.
“I knew they were not going to be in danger. They were with my friends and relatives…and they were ultimately going to be in the custody of US law agencies,” said one Gujarat migrant to Times of India, “We can’t wait till our kids complete their studies in India and then opt for legal ways to enter the US,” he added.
Tougher Immigration Policy Under Trump 2.0
In the midst of this increasing trend, the Trump administration is said to be clamping down on its immigration policy. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now making 'welfare visits' to find unaccompanied children and can pursue deportation or criminal prosecution, reports The Guardian. Rather than that legal aid programs for such children have been cut back this year in despite of court mandates, while sensitive information gathered by child welfare agencies is now reportedly shared to ICE. Human rights groups and child welfare associations have expressed alarm over the mental well-being, protection, and legal rights of such abandoned children.