The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday told the Lok Sabha that 1,703 Indians have been deported from the United States between January 20 and July 22.

The highest number of deportees were from Punjab with 620 persons, followed by 604 from Haryana and 245 from Gujarat, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told Parliament.

Singh was replying to a question by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi about the deportation of Indian citizens from the United States.

Of the total, 767 individuals returned on commercial flights, while 333 were deported on US military flights. Another 231 persons came back to India on charter flights operated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Singh said.

Among the deportees, 1,562 were men and 141 were women.

Singh added that the foreign ministry remains engaged with the US authorities to “ensure the humane treatment of deportees during these deportation operations”.

The minister highlighted that concerns had been “strongly registered” with the US about the treatment of deportees, “particularly with respect to use of shackles, especially on women and children”.

“Concerns with regards to religious / cultural sensitivities including the use of turbans and dietary preferences have also been formally taken up,” the reply added.

Singh also flagged that the ministry had not received any complaints about the alleged mistreatment of deportees after February 5.

Since January, the Donald Trump-led US administration has been tightening of immigration regulations. In some cases, the US government had used military aircraft to repatriate undocumented migrants.

The Opposition had criticised the Indian government after videos showed the Indian deportees on US military aircraft having been shackled. But External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had told the Rajya Sabha on February 6 that the persons had been shackled in keeping with past procedure.

On May 19, the US Department of State announced visa restrictions on persons working with Indian travel agencies found to have been “knowingly facilitating illegal immigration” to the United States.

A 2022 United States Department of Homeland Security report estimated that 2.2 lakh undocumented Indian migrants were living in the country.

Also read: The paradox, economic blowback of deporting undocumented Indian immigrants