India has taken back 2,417 nationals deported or repatriated from the United States since January, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday, while at the same time underlined its push for “legal pathways of migration”.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, confirming the deportation numbers, said New Delhi works closely with Washington to verify the nationality of individuals before accepting them back.

“Whenever there is a person who does not possess legal status in any country and is referred to us with documents, if there are claims that he or she is an Indian national, we do the background check, confirm nationality and then take them back. That is what has been happening with deportations from the US,” Jaiswal said.

The remarks came amid growing concerns over visa fraud, i

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