In the latest of its Untold America series, AJ+ hops in the cab of an 18-wheeler belonging to Satnam Singh, a Punjabi Sikh immigrant, who came to the US 40 years ago.
San Francisco, California – For decades, Indian nationals have been making long journeys to reach the US-Mexico border. In some detention facilities in California, up to 40 percent of the people being held are reportedly from India, according to government data from last year.
Immigrants and asylum seekers from India travel more than 9,000 miles (14,484km) with paid “agents” who guide them on a route that snakes through multiple countries before reaching Mexico. In the first four months of 2018, there were 4,197 Indian nationals arrested by US Customs and Border Patrol. Some asylum seekers have told us they fled political and religious persecution in India. Satnam Singh, a Punjabi Sikh immigrant, made the journey in 1979. He worked and travelled through seven countries before reaching the US-Mexico border and ultimately crossed into the United States by swimming across the Rio Grande. “That night I’ve never forgotten,” he told us earlier this year.
Today, Singh works as a truck driver, like thousands of fellow Sikh Americans.
Source :aljazeera.com
Sunday, May 3, 2026
