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A fast-growing illegal influx from India
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The nation's fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants is not one that would readily come to mind.
Turning stereotypes on their head, a recent federal analysis of unauthorized immigration says the most rapidly growing source of illegal immigration is India - the same country whose engineers and programmers help power Silicon Valley companies such as Google, whose doctors heal the sick, and whose entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have become a force on both sides of the international date line.
The Homeland Security Department estimates there are 270,000 unauthorized Indian natives in the United States - a 125 percent jump since 2000, the largest percentage increase of any nation with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants in the United States.
The number of undocumented Indians is dwarfed by the estimated 6.6 million illegal residents from Mexico, according to estimates from the federal Office of Immigration Statistics.
Virtually all entered the United States legally but violated the terms of their visas, experts who study the immigration system say.
Indians are among the most affluent ethnic groups in the United States, with a median household income that is 62 percent higher than the figure for all U.S. households.
