The United States has identified 487 “presumed Indian citizens” who are facing deportation, said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Friday.

“It is hard to give an exact number because we can’t confirm anybody as an Indian national until we check that,” said Misri during a special press briefing. “Any country in the world, if it is going to accept its nationals back, will want to have the assurance that whosoever is coming is a bonafide citizen.”

He added: “In recent conversations, when we have sought details about potential returnees from the US, we have been told there are 487 presumed Indian citizens with final removal orders.”

His statement came two days after a US military aircraft carrying 104 deported Indian citizens landed at the Amritsar airport.

Of those who were deported, 25 were women, 12 were minors and 79 were men.

The deportation is part of a wider crackdown by United States President Donald Trump’s administration, which has used military aircraft to repatriate undocumented migrants. This is the first military deportation of Indian citizens since Trump returned to office on January 20.

On the United States using a military aircraft to deport Indians, Misri said on Friday that the latest operation was “somewhat different” from past repatriations, as it was classified as a “national security operation” by Washington.

The deportation had triggered a political row, with Opposition leaders asking why the Indian nationals were cuffed on their hands and legs on the flight.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that they were shackled in keeping with past procedure.

“The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft used by [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement], that has been effective from 2012, provides for the use of restraints,” said the minister.

He added that New Delhi was informed by US authorities “that women and children are not restrained”.

Indian authorities are engaging with the United States to ensure that “the returning deportees are not mistreated in any manner during the flight”, said Jaishankar.

He also emphasised that the process of deportation was not new and shared data from India’s Bureau of Immigration showing that 15,668 Indians have been deported from the United States since 2009.

The data showed that the number of deportees spiked from 2016 to 2020, with as many as 2,042 Indians having been deported from the US in 2019. The figures dropped from 2021 to 2023, before rising again to 1,368 in 2024.