India steps up return of undocumented migrants to Bangladesh  

On May 25, 160 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children, were flown by an Indian Air Force plane from Ghaziabad to Agartala, near the Bangladesh border.

They had been detained in Delhi during a police operation targeting illegal immigration.

The move is part of a broader campaign that intensified after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam region in April.

The Indian government has directed state authorities to identify and remove undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar without waiting for the slower legal deportation process.

More than 500 people have been moved to the border over the past month, with large groups earlier sent from Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Migrants are first held in detention centres, then handed over to the Border Security Force after their identities are recorded and fake Indian documents are cancelled.

The Ministry of External Affairs said India has asked Bangladesh to confirm the nationality of more than 2,300 people it plans to deport. Some cases have reportedly been pending for several years.

In Bangladesh, the recent “push-back” approach has sparked concern.

A senior military official in Dhaka told reporters that such actions are “unacceptable,” but the country’s border forces are handling the situation according to international rules.

The Indian government maintains that those being removed are different from people who arrived legally but overstayed their visas.

It says biometric records are now being collected to stop re-entry and prevent illegal access to services like Aadhaar, India’s national ID system.

The crackdown gained momentum after political changes in Bangladesh last year.

Indian officials say the goal is to strengthen border security and reduce risks linked to undocumented migration.