Immigration Crackdowns Put an $800 Billion Lifeline at Risk

Mokhasan doesn’t fit the mold of an average village in rural India. There’s a new local council building, opulent Hindu temples and paved roads. The primary school recently received a donation of $90,000. But despite these modern amenities, the streets are largely silent. Most houses are padlocked, their yards unkempt. Neighboring villages in the western state of Gujarat, one of India’s wealthiest, are also ghost towns, emptied of residents who migrated to countries such as the US.

“Everyone goes to the US to make money, and most of that money comes back to India,” says Jayesh Patel, whose entire family left the country. Patel, who runs a water bottling plant in Gujarat’s capital, Ahmedabad, frequently visits his native village to watch over the family’s land. “Everything here—the roads, temples, schools—it all comes from dollars.”