US has deported more than 4,600 Indians in last 17 months: Ministry of External Affairs
Here's an immigration and foreign policy update for you. The Ministry of External Affairs says more than 4,600 Indians have been deported from the United States in the last 17 months, with 1,076 this year and 3,567 during 2025. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal added that India accepts that every country must take back its nationals if they're living abroad illegally. So basically, deportations have spiked under the Trump administration's immigration push. What this really means is migration is now a live issue in India-US ties. Bottom line for the exam, remember the MEA, the role of the official spokesperson, and India's stand on illegal migration and deportation.
More than 4,600 Indians have been deported from the US to India in the last 17 months since the US administration led by President Donald Trump assumed office in January last year.
The figures were disclosed by the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in response to questions. “A total of 1,076 Indian nationals have been deported from the US to India so far this year. During 2025, a total of 3,567 people were deported from the US,” he said.
The issue of immigration has been a political hot button for the Trump administration. India has made it clear it is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals, if they are found to be living illegally abroad. This is however subject to verification of their nationality. “This is not a policy practiced only by India; it is a generally accepted principle in international relations,” the MEA had told Parliament last year.
It had also said that the Government continues to work in close coordination with the US on deportation of individuals who were found to have illegally entered the US, or have overstayed their visas, or have been found living in the US without any documentation. The list of persons identified for deportation by the US side is closely scrutinised and verified by the Indian agencies concerned. Only those persons who have been verified to be Indian nationals are accepted to be deported to India, it had said.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021.... Read More