(Image source from: PTI)
Since the beginning of this year, 2,790 Indian citizens who were living illegally in the United States have returned to India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) mentioned on Thursday. While providing these statistics during his regular media update, MEA representative Randhir Jaiswal stated that these people “did not qualify and were living there illegally.” “Since January of this year, we have seen more than 2,790 Indian citizens who did not qualify. They were living there without permission. We confirmed their documents and their nationality. And they have come back,” Jaiswal noted. “This is the situation as of yesterday, which is October 29.” Jaiswal made it clear that every case was checked to ensure the person was an Indian citizen before they were sent back. “We verified their documents and nationality before they arrived,” he emphasized, highlighting that deportations adhered to the regular legal and diplomatic protocols between authorities in India and the US.
The MEA spokesperson also responded to inquiries regarding deportations from the United Kingdom, mentioning that about 100 Indian citizens had been returned this year after proper verification. “From the UK side, this year we had around 100 Indian individuals who were deported after we confirmed their nationality,” Jaiswal said. These figures illustrate the ongoing cooperation between India and its international partners to handle migration more efficiently, especially in light of a worldwide increase in illegal border crossings and overstayed visas. The number of Indian citizens caught attempting to enter the United States without authorization has significantly decreased, reaching its lowest point in four years, according to data provided by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
From October 2024 to September 2025, US officials detained 34,146 Indians trying to enter the country illegally, which is a 62 percent drop from the previous fiscal year’s total of 90,415 detentions. The most recent CBP report, issued on October 28, indicates what officials refer to as a significant and ongoing reduction in such incidents. This decline represents the biggest drop from last year since 2021, when irregular migration among Indian nationals started to increase due to economic challenges following the pandemic.
