Over 2,400 Indians deported from US since January: MEA

New Delhi: India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday revealed that 2,417 Indian nationals have been deported or repatriated from the United States since January 2025.

Addressing a media briefing, MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India remains committed to promoting legal pathways for migration and has been actively working with foreign governments to identify and repatriate individuals staying abroad without proper documentation.

“The number of deportations that have happened from the United States since January; 2,417 Indian nationals are deported or repatriated from the United States,” Jaiswal said.

“We want to promote legal pathways of migration. India stands against illegal migration. Whenever there is a person who does not possess a legal status in any country and he or she is referred to us with documents, and if there are claims that he or she is an Indian national, we do the background check, confirm the nationality and then we are in a position to take them back,” he added.

The spokesperson highlighted the government’s concern that illegal migration undermines India’s efforts to encourage regulated migration and emphasised the importance of creating awareness among Indian citizens, especially regarding fraudulent job offers and visa scams.

“As far as visa fraud cases and other such matters are concerned, we want to promote legal migration from India. We want to see how best we can clamp down on illegal migration because that undermines our efforts to promote legal migration,” Jaiswal said.

“The Government of India has been working very closely with state governments to crack down on people who are promoting illegal migration... We are raising awareness about legal migration. We've also been issuing regular advisories for our nationals to stay away from the kind of employment opportunities that are being offered in Southeast Asia.”

Jaiswal also drew attention to an emerging concern in Iran, where several Indian nationals have reportedly been kidnapped by criminal elements after being lured with fraudulent employment promises.

“In recent months, we have seen that several Indian nationals who have been kidnapped by criminals upon landing in Iran,” he said, adding that India and Iran have a visa-free arrangement only for tourism purposes.

“There are people and agents who, in connivance with others, have been luring our nationals to go to Iran for employment purposes. The visa-free entry is not meant for employment purposes,” Jaiswal clarified.

“We have issued an advisory so that people can be aware of these facts and what has been happening, and they can stay away from all these people who are promoting illegal migration,” he added.