CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Lawyer Muzaffar Chishti, director at the Migration Policy Institute in New York, said \u201cpush factors like these are what matter in the decision for people to make the journey.\u201d <\/p>\n
Chishti, who has been watching illegal immigration trends into the US, said: \u201cIf these young men and women know that there is a good chance, even a 50% chance that they will get into the US \u2026 that is a magnet.\u201d <\/p>\n
Until a recent Biden Administration crackdown on the border, there was reason to believe that embarking on the trip could bring success. <\/p>\n
Many who have attempted the journey have vlogged about it, amassing tens of thousands of views on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all while selling the idea of \u201cthe American Dream.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ankush Malik, whose YouTube channel has close to 60,000 subscribers, is among those who have successfully crossed into the US via Mexico. He now works as a truck driver and often flaunts his wealth to his fans, boasting of buying $95 perfume, living in a large house and visiting multiple cities as a trucker. <\/p>\n
But not every video paints a rosy picture. <\/p>\n
Malik documented his entire journey from Haryana to the US, flying via Qatar and Amsterdam, before reaching Panama to begin his jungle trek. In one of the videos, the men appear weak and tired, dripping in sweat, with bug bites on their legs and arms, while staying on the lookout for other critters as they stop to rest for the night. <\/p>\n
One of the migrants looks at the camera with sullen eyes and a rugged beard. Pale and hungry, he says: \u201c10 lakh rupees ($12,000) has gone to waste. They\u2019ve made a donkey out of us.\u201d <\/p>\n
If they make it to the US, the migrants\u2019 unpredictable journey begins to follow a typical routine as they wait for Customs and Border Protection officers to pick them up, according to Chishti. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe customs official first must determine whether the person is in physical danger or not. Whether they\u2019re malnourished or not,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey give them a bottle of water. At that point, the person (who just crossed into the US) says \u2018I\u2019m here to seek asylum.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
According to US law, if someone claims asylum, they must be given a hearing to make their case. While they wait, the customs official takes them to a processing facility, where they\u2019re given a medical screening. Security checks are conducted, and the migrants are interviewed. <\/p>\n
Following the screening, the official decides whether to consider their asylum application, which could take years to process. <\/p>\n
While in the US, asylum applicants can apply for employment authorization and must wait at least 180 days for a work permit. <\/p>\n
In 2023, 46% of asylum claims from Indian nationals were approved, according to the Justice Department. <\/p>\n
Earlier this summer the Biden Administration issued an executive order largely barring migrants from seeking asylum at the US southern border and levying harsh consequences on those illegally crossing. <\/p>\n
US Border Patrol have since reported a dramatic drop in illegal cross border traffic. In September, Border Patrol officers reported around 54,000 encounters, the lowest number recorded since 2020. <\/p>\n
But contrary to his claims, US authorities found he faced no persecution in India, and he was eventually sent home. <\/p>\n
The man wanted to remain anonymous as he is attempting to make the trip yet again. \u201cI don\u2019t earn enough while farming here,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
An agent from Haryana, who did not want to be named for legal reasons, said he has sent between 150 to 200 people via the \u201cdonkey route\u201d to the US. <\/p>\n
But this month, the agent said conditions for migrants had changed dramatically. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been an increase in the number of people being deported for certain,\u201d he said. \u201cThis has caused fear in those going illegally and the agents involved in the donkey route.\u201d <\/strong> <\/p>\n The agent said he has completely stopped his work. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost people are now holding off going to the United States via donkey,\u201d the second agent said. \u201cThey do not want to spend thousands of dollars for nothing.\u201d <\/p>\n
As he campaigns for a return to the White House, Trump has made clear his views on immigration, blaming migrants for everything from rising crime to eating people\u2019s pets. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur country is being lost, we\u2019re a failing nation,\u201d Trump said in September\u2019s presidential debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion the donkey route will never completely stop,\u201d said the first agent. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven earlier during Trump\u2019s time, we sent people. There will be newer routes, networks, and ways one may have to devise to get there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kumar waited anxiously at home in India as his brother Malkeet embarked on the donkey route from India last year. <\/p>\n
Malkeet sent images of his plane tickets and selfie videos along the way before setting off on the riskiest leg, the trek north through Guatemala. <\/p>\n
Kumar had hoped for news that his brother had made it. Instead, he received videos that confirmed he hadn\u2019t. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe got videos (of his dead body) via many WhatsApp groups. Someone showed it to us and asked if it was my brother and we identified him,\u201d Kumar said. <\/p>\n
The family learned Malkeet had been shot and killed by criminals on a riverbank on the El Salvador-Guatemala border. <\/p>\n
Malkeet\u2019s body was returned to them nearly five months later. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is impossible to fill the loss of my brother,\u201d said Kumar, who now toils on his family\u2019s fields alone. <\/p>\n
But despite the tragedy, people remain undeterred. Kumar says young people in his village still dream of smuggling themselves somewhere overseas <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople here know they will die from unemployment, so they think it is better to go and take the risk,\u201d he said. \u201cFor people here it has become do or die.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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The sun blisters the arid ground in Karnal, a district in India\u2019s northern Haryana state, where empty houses stand testament to an acute problem that\u2019s driving some residents to take unimaginable risks. There are no jobs here, so young educated locals who dream of a better life are paying thousands of dollars to flee the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}