Just three days into his presidency, US President Donald Trump has taken the world by storm. His decisions on the US southern border with Mexico, immigration and pardoning of his supporters have all created waves.
Trump even began deploying troops along the Mexico border and said that this was meant to repel the disastrous invasion of the United States. He has further vowed to undertake one of the biggest deportation drive of illegal immigrants in American history.
The challenge that the US has with illegal immigrants along the Mexico border is very similar to the one that India faces along its border with Bangladesh. Several measures have been taken by Bharat to fence the border with Bangladesh. However, the new regime in Dhaka does not want to cooperate and the Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB) recently prevented an attempt to fence a part of the border.
The issue relating to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants may have gained steam in the wake of actor, Saif Ali Khan being stabbed. The police said that the man behind the stabbing was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant. However, this is not the first time that the illegal immigrants have indulged in acts of crime. There are various such instances and even more serious ones that include acts of terror, narco trafficking and counterfeiting.
Can Bharat secure the border
India shares a 4,096 kilometre long border with Bangladesh. It passes through rivers, chars, exclaves and enclaves. The terrain is treacherous and densely populated, hence making it extremely challenging to secure and man.
For the US securing the border is relatively easier since it is marked by a desert terrain.
For New Delhi there are legal challenges as well in the form of the 1975 Joint India-Bangladesh Guidelines for Border Authorities. This prohibits the construction of defence structures within 150 yards o the international boundary.
The 1975 agreement says, “no permanent post will be constructed till the final demarcation has been done and the problem (final demarcation of international borders) is resolved… If defensive works of any nature, including trenches, exist in the stretch of 300 yards (150 yards on each side of the boundary, these must be destroyed or filled up.”
Bangladesh uses the barbed wire fencing as a defence structure, but India does not. India had installed smart fencing that is equipped with CCTV and electronic surveillance devices. This too was opposed by Bangladesh.
Hence the 150-yard rule cannot be followed due to several constraints which are geographical in nature. Due to the presence of villages, the situation on the ground is managed through discussions between the two sides on the ground.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in a press release dated August 2022 had said that 3,144 kilometres of the 4,096 kilometer border is fenced. This would mean that nearly 24 per cent of the border is not fenced. The absence of fencing near rivers and human settlements is what is contributing to the menace of illegal immigration which has been on for several decades.
A very large scale
The problem relating to illegal immigrants in India is much higher when compared to the United States. Not only has Bharat faced this problem for several decades now, but the issue also persists and has only become worse in the absence of Sheikh Hasina.
Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the security forces have detained and pushed back nearly 1,000 illegal migrants between August 2024 and January 2025.
The problem according to Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankar is that these illegal immigrants are causing demographic disruption. He also said that the threat has grown to unimaginable dimensions.
The Border Security Force which mans the border not only faces challenges from illegal immigrants coming in, but also from their counterparts in the BGB. Tensions were high when a verbal altercation broke out between the BSF and BGB personnel in Malda over the ongoing fencing work. This led to the summoning of the acting high commissioner of Bangladesh Nurul Islam by New Delhi. Dhaka to summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma and expressed deep concern over the activities of the BSF.
What is the real number
On several occasions statistics have been put out relating to the number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in India.
In 2004, the then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said that 12 million illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators were living in India. In 2016, the then Union Home Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju estimated the number at 20 million.
An affidavit submitted by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in 2023 said, ‘since entry of such foreign nationals into the country is clandestine and surreptitious, it is not possible to collect accurate data of such illegal immigrants living in various parts of the country. The detection, detention and deportation of such illegally staying foreign nationals is a complex, ongoing process,’ he also said.
Since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government the problem has risen sharply. Everyday, the Assam police is pushing back nearly 30 illegal immigrants back to Bangladesh. When some of them were questioned, they said that the textile industry in Bangladesh had collapsed due to the unrest and hence they came to India in search of jobs.
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