Summary:
“The reasons should be looked into,” he added. JALANDHAR: The number of Indians seeking asylum in the US has increased by 14 times since 2013.The data provided by US citizenship and immigration services of the department of homeland security revealed that 20,235 Indians have sought asylum in the US since 2014 and more than one-third of them have applied for the same only in nine months in 2018.Notably, while 553 persons had sought asylum in 2013, the number jumped to 7,214 in 2018 that too till September 25.According to the data procured by Satnam Singh Chahal , executive director, North American Punjabi Association, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), there are 848 women who are among the asylum seekers and maximum women(296) have applied in 2018.“Even as there is an element of human trafficking, the data makes it clear that there has been a sharp rise ever since the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre,” Chahal said.“It is a matter of concern that there is multi-fold increase in number of people, most of them young, fleeing the country and alleging persecution in India,” said Chahal.“The US asylum law applies to those who have a wellfounded fear of persecution ‘on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion’ and those fleeing because of generalized crime and violence in their home country do not easily fit into these categories,” he added.He also said scores of youths from Punjab were also trying their luck to settle abroad and each one of them pays between Rs 25 lakh to 30 lakh to travel agents..