India’s Ministry of External Affairs updated information about Indian nationals residing in the United States without proper documentation. The government announced that, from January 2025 to date, a total of 2,790 Indians have been deported to their homeland from the US.
MEA spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, addressing the issue on Thursday (30th October), said they “did not meet the criteria and were illegally staying there”.
According to Jaiswal, “since January of this year,” more than 2,790 Indian nationals have been deported after it was found they did not meet the criteria and were illegally staying there. He confirmed that Indian officials “verified their credentials, their nationality” before their return. “This is the status till yesterday, that is 29th October,” he added.
Mr Jaiswal further clarified that India only accepts deportations on reasonable grounds. He explained that before returning anyone, Indian officials first confirmed their credentials and nationality to ensure they were indeed Indians. The entire process is done through proper legal and diplomatic channels between India and the US.
The MEA spokesperson also added that this was not an incident only with the US. This year, about 100 Indian nationals were also returned from the United Kingdom after their nationalities were similarly verified.
The number of Indians attempting to enter the US illegally has decreased. According to new data provided by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), such attempts have reached their lowest level in four years. This is a significant shift from recent years, when these numbers were on an upward surge, especially after the pandemic.
According to the latest report of CBP, US authorities detained 34,146 Indians trying to cross the border without authorisation between October 2024 and September 2025. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually a massive 62 per cent drop from the previous year when that number stood at 90,415. US officials portrayed this as a “steep and sustained decline,” which shows that efforts to manage migration are having an effect.
