The deportation of 311 Indians by Mexico shows that old and wily job cartels can no longer sell a golden dream
The US has its compelling reasons for enforcing strict norms to phase out illegal refugees and asylum seekers and bolster homeland security. But reverberations of the Trump Administration’s tough immigration rules are finally being felt back home, where cartels for years have resorted to underhand means to smuggle the lesser privileged aspirants from the hinterland into the US. This is why the deportation of 311 Indians, including a woman, from Mexico, is significant for it means old hoodwinking habits and unscrupulous border crossings will simply not work. Hopefully, it will also awaken migrants to be realistic and not entrust their lives and property to agents and human traffickers for the proverbial El Dorado, where they would rather do menial services on the recommendation of an acquaintance than earn a work permit legally. Hopefully, for the thousands of villagers in Punjab and Haryana, the overseas dream will not be their only aimless ambition. Each of the returnees reportedly bought illegal passage for Rs 15 to Rs 18 lakh, a sum that would have ensured them a decent livelihood in India itself had they invested it wisely. Now they are staring at a bleak future on home ground, too. The deportation of Indians from Mexico is a first. As per the National Migration Institute of Mexico, trans-Atlantic air transport to ferry deportees is unprecedented and is expected to continue. The move is not surprising considering that Mexico has been sending back migrants, especially Central Americans, in droves in line with its agreement with the US. It has vowed to significantly curb America-bound migration in exchange for averting US tariffs on Mexican exports. Reports suggest that the backlog of migrants in southern Mexico has grown as officials have stopped issuing permits for them to cross the country. They deported 25,069 Central Americans in January and February, almost double the number in the same period last year. Of these deportees, 3,289 were minors. Contrary to Asians, a majority of Central American migrants flee murderous gangs while others run from poverty or look to reunite with their parents working in the US. The dreams of Indians may have been shattered but they are fortunate to have survived the ordeal and escaped the horrendous detention centres.
An ideal US immigrant would evoke images of a young educated person, either wanting to go there for higher education or already a software professional, adding to the US talent pool, and by extension to the US economy and human resource. However, illegal immigrants are the polar opposite. All those sent back are between 18 and 27 years, hold a graduate degree and wanted to earn a livelihood as a taxi driver in the US. It is, therefore, not difficult to comprehend why despite knowing all the perils involved, they embarked on a risky journey. Obviously their gamble is rooted in the problem of shrinking job space and the comparatively low wages offered by both private and public companies in the country. For those unemployed, the lure of healthy earnings and the prospect of sending a large paycheck back home are enough to embark on a life-threatening journey overseas. It is this desire that scamsters encash. The fake job racket is now a booming industry in the country. And a very organised one at that. Operators engage some very creative minds and legal expertise to identify loopholes in existing rules. The higher the risk, the greater the fee. Then there are others who operate in legally grey areas by training immigrants in the art of bending the rules. Every Government will have to tackle the problem of illegal immigration. But the present incident must impress upon our Government the need to crack down on rogue agents who promise lucrative jobs. This seems to be a difficult flushout challenge in Punjab and Haryana where illegal trafficking networks are a sub-set of a larger matrix of gunrunners, drug smugglers and ganglord couriers. Simultaneously, a campaign must be launched to make the people aware of the dangers of falling prey to corrosive agents and the benefits of going through job services linked to embassies and high commissions.