Islamabad, July 24: After five months in detention in the United States, 75 Pakistanis returned home today, deported for violating US immigration laws, a foreign office spokesman said. "They were living in the US illegally after being asked by immigration authorities to leave in the late 1990s,'' said Masood Khan.

Most of the Pakistanis who returned had spent the last five months trying to fight their deportation, Khan said.

According to local newspapers, more than 400 Pakistanis have been forcibly returned from the United States since 2002 for immigration violations.

A crackdown on visag the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Illegal immigrants to the united states and people who have overstayed their visas have been arrested, investigated and returned home.

Bureau Report