The vast majority of illegals attempting to enter the United States come up from Mexico. Yet our second border, to Canada in the north, sees its share of illegal border crossers as well.
This fact was emphasized in the past week with the discovery of four Indian nationals found frozen to death in sub-zero temperatures just inside North Dakota, near the Manitoban city of Emerson.
The family of Indians, identified as Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel (39), Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel (37), Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel (11), and Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel (3), had arrived on tourist visas in Toronto on January 12 and traveled to Emerson around January 18. The family was accompanied by members of three other families from their west Indian village of Dingucha, but apparently had become separated. Seven Indians were found on the Minnesota side of the border, two in a van driven by a human smuggler, Steve Shand of Florida.
Shand was arrested on smuggling charges but was then released without bond. The seven illegals were not arrested, although one confessed he had purchased a fake student visa in Canada. He had been expecting a ride to a relative in Chicago after crossing over.
The Emerson area, it turns out, is a popular spot for illegal border crossings, due to its remoteness. Moreover, overcrowded and under-employed India is supplying the lion’s share of the illegal crossers there. The village of Dingucha, in the Indian state of Gujarat, has seen a large out-migration of residents to Canada and the U.S. in recent years. One Indian reporter stated that on a recent visit to Dingucha, he found nearly half the houses abandoned by their occupants, who had left for North America.
The Indians come to Canada and the U.S. for two primary reasons: (1) money and (2) to join family members already here. Neither is a legal claim to asylum. The desire on the part of many Indians to relocate has prompted a cottage industry of illegal smuggling, which often involves local politicians. In connection with this case, authorities in India are reporting that they have arrested six employees of a Gujarat travel and tourism company.
The U.S. response to the intentional breach of its borders is, unfortunately, the same in the North as the South. One immigration attorney said the seven illegals who made it across from Manitoba to Minnesota could expect to be rewarded with visas.
For more, see the Radio Canada website.