The United States has deported 1,563 Indian nationals since January 20 this year, the day Donald Trump assumed office as President for a second term, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday. Most of the deportees have been sent back on commercial flights.

"Since 20 January of this year, till yesterday, some 1,563 Indian nationals have been deported from the United States so far. Most of these Indian nationals have come by commercial flight," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a briefing.

Data shared by the MEA in Parliament earlier showed that the US had deported 6,135 Indians during Trump's first tenure from 2017 to 2021. The highest number of deportations took place in 2019, with 2,042 Indian nationals sent back. The numbers for other years were 1,024 in 2017, 1,180 in 2018, and 1,889 in 2020.

In contrast, during Joe Biden's presidency, the number of deported Indian nationals dropped to around 3,000.

The Trump administration had launched a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigrants during its first term. According to Reuters, the US deported 37,660 migrants in Trump's first month in office in 2017. Sources said that America has prepared a list of 18,000 undocumented Indians slated for deportation.