India-US ties to take a hit again? Over 3000 Indian nationals deported from US this year due to…

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was asked whether it is a fact that several Indians who entered through "donkey route", were recently deported from the US.

The relationship between the United States and India has become increasingly strained. Although India and the United States have traditionally maintained a strong strategic and economic partnership, recent events, including trade disputes, political statements, and various international policy decisions, have added strain to this increasingly fragile partnership. Earlier on Friday, the government informed Parliament that in 2025, as of November 21, as many as 3,155 Indian nationals have been deported from the US.

What were the reasons behind these deportations?

According to the news agency PTI report, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, in a written response to a query, also stated all deportations are subject to an “unambiguous verification” of their Indian nationality.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was asked whether it is a fact that several Indians who entered through “donkey route”, were recently deported from the US, and if so, the number of people shunted out by the US government to India during the last three years. The “donkey route” means the route used for illegal immigration, largely in context of North America.

“The US government usually deports individuals who are found to have (i) illegally entered the US, (ii) have overstayed their visa validity, (iii) have been found living in the US without any documentation, or (iv) have criminal conviction against them. The Government of India works in close coordination with the US government on these deportation operations,” Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

In his response, he also shared the number of Indian nationals deported from the US to India in the last three years. According to statistics provided in table format, as of November 21, 2025, 3,155 Indian Nationals had been deported from the US during that period of time. The number of Indian Nationals who had been deported from the US in 2024 was 1,368, whereas in 2023 the figure was 617. “Data relating to registration of cases of trafficking to other countries, including through ‘donkey route’, is not maintained by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Most of the foreign countries do not share details of Indian deportees,” the MoS said in response to a separate query.

The MEA, in another query, was asked the number of Indian workers imprisoned in prisons across Kuwait and other nations. “There are a total of 316 Indian prisoners in jails in Kuwait (as on 31.10.2025) as per the data shared by Kuwaiti authorities,” Singh said.

What did the ministry say about state-wise details on Hajj pilgrims from India?

Additionally, in another query, the ministry was asked for information on state-wise details on Hajj pilgrims from India, who left for pilgrimage, under the Hajj Committee of India, in the last few years. Singh shared a year-wise tabulated data, according to which 1,39,964 Haj pilgrims from different parts of India, had left for pilgrimage in 2024; and 1,39,429 in 2023; and 56,634 in 2022.

(With PTI Inputs)