IndiaCurrents: Undocumented, Unafraid and Unapologetic

Click here for the March 2012 issue of India Currents

I did this story to reach out to a group that is pretty invisible when it comes to debates about immigration reform and immigrant rights.

It’s a big deal for India Currents to shine the spotlight on an issue that most of our community speaks about in hushed tones. The United States knows us as mostly doctors and engineers. And while many South Asians do enjoy a relatively good life, silver-lined with “model minority” status, there are many of us who do not have the same luxury.

South Asian Americans make up one-sixth of the undocumented population in the United States. They become undocumented in many different ways:

• Overstaying visas to stay with family
• Losing their H-1B jobs
• Leaving an abusive marriage with a H-1B holder
• Being exploited as a domestic worker or sex trafficking
• Aging out
• Losing their asylum cases and overstaying due to family ties here
• Crossing the border through Mexico

We need to have these hard and awkward conversations within our communities. We need to ensure that the most vulnerable parts of our population get the support and services they need. And it is my hope that through the article, I’ll get to meet and help out many others like me.I hope everyone enjoys the issue.