State Governments to repatriate illegal immigrants

NEW DELHI: Central Government is vested with powers to deport a foreign national under section 3(2)(c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946. These powers to identify and deport illegally staying foreign nationals have also been delegated to the State Governments and the Bureau of Immigration under the Foreigners Act, 1946.  Detection and deportation of such illegal immigrants is a continuous process.

Statistical data of cases regarding illegal immigrants is not centrally maintained. According to available data, approximately 330 Pakistani and approximately 1770 Bangladeshi nationals have been repatriated during the last three years.

“Illegal migrants enter into the country in clandestine and surreptitious manner.  Therefore, accurate estimate of such illegal migrants is not available. Some instances of violation of the law and involvement in illegal activities by foreign nationals have been reported”, said an Official.

“Law enforcement agencies also maintain a strict vigil on the activities of foreigners in the country and take appropriate action in cases of any illegal activities,” he added.

A revised procedure for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was communicated to the State Governments in November,  2009,  which  was  partially  modified  in  February,  2011  and further modified in February, 2013.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju stated, “The National Register of Citizen is being updated in a fair, objective and transparent manner as per the Citizenship Rules, 2003. The first part of Draft National Register of Citizen (NRC) covering 1.90 crore applicants out of 3.29 crore applicants has been published on the expiry of the midnight of 31st December, 2017 including names of those applicants in respect of whom the entire process of verification has been completed. The remaining applicants are under various stages of scrutiny and after their verification is completed, another draft NRC will be published.  After publication of complete draft NRC, every individual would get an opportunity to file claims or objections, if any, and only after disposal of such claims and objections final NRC will be published.”