Illegal immigration to the US has become a booming industry but the Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with US authorities is cracking down on it hard.
The ED is now probing at least 4,300 Indians who entered the US illegally between 2021 and 2024. They discovered that agents in Punjab and Gujarat ran a well-planned operation to smuggle people through fake college admissions in Canada.
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Authorities found over 8,500 suspicious transactions, out of which 4,300 were duplicate entries, likely used to manipulate records.
Agents charged ₹40-50 lakh per person just to arrange fake admissions. Once the Immigrant reached Canada, the admission was withdrawn, but the visa remained valid.
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This racket was exposed after a tragic 2022 case where four Indians from Gujarat froze to death while crossing into the US from Canada.
Bhavesh Patel, a travel agent, had arranged the visas for the victims through KIEC International LLP. The firm is also under investigation for running similar illegal immigrant schemes.
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These cases have exposed the complex financial web these fraud agents had weaved to gain profit. They made sure the high amount of transactions went unnoticed by using overdraft accounts and then using fixed deposits to create multiple layers, wiping out financial tracks in the process.
As the investigation is still ongoing, more agents and immigrants are expected to be caught in this network.
