The manner and time span in which the 18,000 Indians are deported can serve to embarrass the Narendra Modi government and hurt Indo-US ties. It will bring new questions for an image-sensitive government that projects India as a growth engine while an increasing number of Indians, as alleged by the US, look to settle in a foreign land. For now, India is right in asserting that it will take back deportees after verifying that they indeed are Indian citizens.

