As an overtly homosexual man residing in a deeply conservative a part of India’s Punjab, life had lengthy been onerous for Jashan Preet Singh.

Through the years, Mr Singh, 34, had grown accustomed to day by day discrimination in his hometown of Jalandhar – harassment and beatings doled out by his neighbours, and a household that had largely turned its again on him.

However what occurred late final 12 months was totally different.

“There have been 15 or 20 individuals who tried to kill me,” he informed the BBC from Fresno, California. “I ran away from there and saved my life. However they minimize varied components of my physique.” The assault left him with a mutilated arm and a severed thumb.

Mr Singh’s escape set him on a journey that took him by way of Turkey and France. Finally, it led him to the US-Mexico border, practically 8,000 miles (12,800km) away, the place he crossed into California to start a brand new life within the America.

He isn’t alone – for years, the arrival of Indian migrants within the US has been gradual however regular, amounting to dozens or a whole lot every month.

This 12 months, nonetheless, the figures have spiked.

Because the starting of the 2022 fiscal 12 months that began final October, a report 16,290 Indian residents have been taken into US custody on the Mexican border. The earlier excessive of 8,997 was recorded in 2018.

Consultants level to quite a lot of causes for the rise, together with a local weather of discrimination in India, an finish to pandemic-era restrictions, a notion that the present US administration is welcoming to asylum seekers and the ramping-up of beforehand established smuggling networks.

Whereas some migrants are coming to the US for financial causes, many are fleeing persecution again dwelling, stated Deepak Ahluwalia, an immigration lawyer who has represented Indian nationals in Texas and California.

The latter group vary from Muslims, Christians and “low-caste” Hindus to members of India’s LGBT neighborhood who worry violence by the hands of maximum Hindu nationalists, or supporters of secessionist actions and farmers from the Punjab area, which has been shaken by protests since 2020.

Situations for a lot of of those teams have deteriorated lately, worldwide observers say.

For Mr Singh, the choice to go away his nation wasn’t a straightforward one. He first thought of transferring to a different Indian metropolis, however feared that he could be handled simply as badly.

“The tradition just isn’t open-minded for homosexual individuals,” he stated. “Being homosexual over there’s a large situation.”

India solely decriminalised homosexual intercourse in 2018 and same-sex marriage stays unlawful.

His brother quickly put him in contact with an India-based “journey company” – a part of a complicated and costly smuggling community that took him first to Turkey – the place “life was very powerful” – after which to France, the place he briefly thought of staying however was unable to search out work. The whole journey took him simply over six months.

Finally, his “journey agent” organized for him to affix a small group of Indians headed to the US, the place many – Mr Singh included – had relations.

“He charged us some huge cash,” Mr Singh stated. “[But] from France he obtained me to Cancun, and from there to Mexico Metropolis and north.”

Immigrants resembling Mr Singh usually see the US as “the final word gateway” to a greater life, stated Mr Ahluwalia, the lawyer.

The big distances concerned, nonetheless, make the journey to the US extraordinarily difficult.

Historically, Indian migrants who arrive on the US-Mexican border use “door-to-door” smuggling providers, with journeys organized from India to South America. They’re usually guided all the approach and journey in small teams with their fellow countrymen who converse the identical language, reasonably than individually or with solely relations.

These networks usually start with India-based “journey brokers” which outsource components of the journey to accomplice felony teams in Latin America.

Jessica Bolter, an analyst on the Washington DC-based Migration Coverage Institute, stated that the variety of Indian migrants can be rising because of a “ripple impact” that takes place when those that have used these providers efficiently advocate them to pals or household again in India.

“It naturally expands and attracts extra migrants,” she stated. “In fact, that does not occur with out migrants wanting to go away initially.”

The experiences of Manpreet – a 20-year-old from Punjab who requested that solely his first title be used – are typical of those that have taken the southern route up to now. A vocal critic of India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Jannata Social gathering), he fled the nation after being persecuted for his political opinions.

“From Ecuador I took a bus to Colombia, and from Colombia I took a bus to Panama,” Manpreet recalled in an interview with the BBC from California. “From there, by way of a ship, I [went to] Nicaragua and Guatemala, after which Mexico and entered the US.”

Even guided by seasoned smugglers, the journey to the border is usually one that’s fraught with risks, together with robberies and extortion by the hands of native gangs or corrupt authorities or excessive climate, accidents and sickness.

These risks had been highlighted in 2019, when a 6-year-old Indian woman from Punjab was discovered useless within the scorching desert close to the border city of Lukeville, Arizona – a case that made headlines in India. It was later reported that she died in temperatures of over 42 C (108 F) after her mom left her with a gaggle of different Indians to go seek for water.

As soon as within the US, migrants resembling Mr Singh start a protracted authorized course of to use for asylum. Most frequently, it begins with what US officers time period a “credible worry interview,” wherein they have to persuade authorities they face persecution if returned dwelling.

“This primary step is crucial,” Mr Ahluwalia defined. “If he [the officer] deems there is no such thing as a credible worry, your case isn’t going to maneuver ahead. That could be very catastrophic.”

If an asylum officer believes these fears are credible, would-be asylum seekers are more likely to be issued a discover to seem earlier than an immigration choose who will contemplate their request.

The method is prolonged – with wait instances of a number of years now the norm throughout the US – with no promise of a constructive end result.

Mr Singh, for his half, has been within the US since late June. In the meanwhile, he’s saving up cash to rent a lawyer.

Whereas his long-term future within the US is not at all assured, and his journey was lengthy, it was higher than the choice, he stated.

“I might at all times worry for my life,” he added. “Since I’ve been right here, I’ve by no means felt such a factor.”