Huh? Huge spike in illegal immigrants from ... India

I can’t make heads or tails of this, and it appears the feds can’t, either:

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Indians are sneaking into the United States across the Mexico border in what American authorities are saying is a sudden and unexpected spike in illegal immigration — from a country half way across the world which is said to be in the throes of an economic boom.

…

The report said Indians are now the largest group of immigrants other than Latin Americans being caught at the Southwest border. The influx reportedly is showing signs of accelerating: About 650 Indians were arrested in southern Texas in the last three months of 2010 alone. The “mysterious and rapidly growing human-smuggling pipelineis backing up court dockets, filling detention centers and triggering investigations,” the report added.

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The CIR/LA Times account said the trend has caught the attention of anti-terrorism officials “because of the pipeline’s efficiency in delivering to America’s doorstep large numbers of people from a troubled region.” Authorities interview the immigrants, most of whom arrive with no documents, to ensure that people from neighboring Pakistan or Middle Eastern countries are not slipping through.

But there is no evidence that terrorists are using the smuggling pipeline, it cited FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials as saying.

My best guess is that some enterprising criminals simply set up shop in India, seeing enough demand there. And speaking of demand, I’m not sure there’s a country on Earth — Monaco, maybe — where a smuggling operation couldn’t find enough people wanting to be escorted into the U.S. to make a profit. This country is just that awesome.