Beyond Myth: Understanding The Reality Of Undocumented South Asians
By Shakeel Syed
It is difficult to forget the visuals of more than a hundred Indian migrants deported to India on a US military plane with hands tied and ankles chained. Their crime; less than proper documentation, a.k.a. undocumented or under-documented.
It is important to acknowledge the undocumented and under-documented South Asians, who are often made invisible by the model minority myth.
Of the 11 million undocumented people in the United States, 800,000 to 900,000 are South Asian. With approximate 6.5 million South Asian Americans, about 1 in 8 South Asians are undocumented.
A recent policy brief by South Asian Coalition and ASATA Power about undocumented immigrants offers the following statistics with a disclaimer that the data is more likely to underestimate population figures due to the anti-immigrant hysteria on steroids.
Indians constitute one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States, increasing from 600,000 in 1990 to 3.2 million in 2022, a whopping 500% increase.
It behooves of those of us who are “properly documented” to understand the undocumented and why are they under attack with intense hateful vitriol. Undocumented Indians are the third-largest group in America after undocumented peoples from Mexico and El Salvador.
Firstly, to state the obvious, anti-Asian / anti-immigrant hate is on steroids.
Stop AAPI Hate a U.S.-based coalition frames its report “Empowered/Imperiled” (Oct 2024) as “the dual rise of South Asian political representation and anti-South Asian hate.”
Secondly, there are myths & misconceptions about South Asian immigrants.
Misconception #1: Immigration from India is not uniform. There are notable nuances. Punjabi speakers represent the largest ethnolinguistic group of asylum-seekers among undocumented Indian immigrants followed by people from Haryana and Gujarat.
Misconception #2: Education does not always predict undocumented status. 91% of Undocumented Indians have attended some college, or who have obtained a college degree or a
higher education degree. See the table below for details
It is a moral imperative for those of us who made it to the ‘promised land,’ to fiercely reject anti-South Asian hate and fearlessly demand to stop the attacks on undocumented and under-documented immigrants.
South Asian Network will continue its advocacy for immigrants and demand:
- That, the undocumented immigrants should not be unduly punished for low-level offenses by deporting them & separating them from their families.
- That, we fiercely reject attempts to restrict undocumented immigrant eligibility for public benefits and calls a robust social safety net, which ensures a living wage, healthcare, education, and other necessary supports for the undocumented immigrants.
- That, the South Asian-American legal professionals must step up to provide legal support to those faced with immigration or removal proceedings.
- That, the South Asian-American legislators and leaders in the corporate world use their influence in demanding more funding for the immigration court system so that it can process and assess claims fairly and in a timely manner.
(Syed is Executive Director, South Asian Network, CA)
