On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of United States of America. Right from the word ‘Go’, in his second innings as US President, Trump went on to issue a series of executive orders, among which, a considerable number deals with issues of illegal immigration into US. With US Administration already having started deporting illegal immigrants at a rapid pace, Trump has set the ball rolling for many other countries to follow the cue and do the needful.
Along with deportation of illegal immigrants, Trump Administration declared emergency for Southern Borders of US, Mexican border in other words, from where majority of illegal crossings have been happening for years. Further, Trump Administration also ‘suspended’ entry of all kinds of ‘undocumented immigrants’ into US. This put a lid to the practice wherein one would reach the US borders, and then would be provided with the ‘legal rights’ to seek asylum in US, which in reality, has been the most convenient way of institutionalising illegal immigration to the US. Further, Trump Administration also signed executive orders, that expanded the legal authority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest all those who enter US illegally.
Crackdown on illegal immigrants
January 30, 2025: The Anti-Human Trafficking Cell of Thane, Maharashtra Police arrested four women of Bangladeshi origin for illegally residing in the Manor Pada area of Thane West. The arrested individuals have been identified as Shazia Khatoon (38), Shalina Mulla (50), Ratna Khatoon (40), and Reshma Desi (40)
January 28, 2025: Jaipur, Rajasthan Police detained 500 people, including Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, during a large-scale operation targeting illegal immigrants and active criminals. According to Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph, the campaign aimed to address criminal activities and identify people residing in the city illegally. Of those detained, 394 are reportedly Rohingya refugees, while the others include several Bangladeshi nationals
January 25, 2025: Three Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally residing in the country after their visas expired. The arrested individuals were allegedly staying at a mobile phone company’s under-construction plant in a Greater Noida village. Additional deputy commissioner of police Ashok Kumar said, “The visas of the suspects — Wu Hongbo, Chen Chen and Peng Shao — expired a few months ago. All of them are Chinese nationals. They were arrested and information is being sent to the embassy in Delhi for necessary action.”
January 20, 2025: An illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammed Rohilla Amin Fakir, was arrested for an attempted robbery and assault on actor Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra residence
January 4, 2025: The five Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, were arrested in west Delhi, Uttam Nagar, told the police that they had entered India from Bangladesh illegally with fake documents
Why Trump’s Actions are Justified
What Trump has been doing may have looked routine in any other era. Any sovereign country has the right to protect its borders, and prevent all kinds of illegal infiltration that eventually has serious consequences on demography, law & order, indigenous culture, and even security of a nation. But such has been the perversion that the world has witnessed in the last few decades, wherein, in the name of ‘liberalism,’ ‘promoting multiculturalism’ and ‘human rights’, agents of Globalism have tried to deliberately weaken countries by literally normalising ‘Trojan Invasions’ of nations through de facto justification to illegal acts of crossing border of countries without any valid documents, and demonising democratically elected nations who oppose it.
Problems arise from illegal immigrants
- National Security
The continuance of the illegal immigration of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis into Bharat is a serious national security ramifications and poses serious security threats. Also, It impacts the interests of local populations in the areas seeing large-scale influxes of illegal immigrants
- Human trafficking
In the recent decades, trafficking of women and human smuggling have become quite rampant across the borders by Illegal immigrants
- Drug Smuggling
Illegal immigrants are largely involved in in the trade of narcotics. While addressing a press Conference, Milind Bharambe, Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai, on December 31, 2024, said, “Those who are illegal immigrants, especially Africans, are indulging in the trade of narcotics. They come on student visas, medical visas, and business visas, but over time, they begin engaging in the narcotics trade. Several have been arrested and are in jail. Navi Mumbai Police has taken action against Africans involved in the narcotics trade in the last two years,” he said.
- Law and Order
The rule of law and integrity of the country are undermined by the illegal migrants who are engaged in illegal and anti-national activities
How Bharat Suffered for Decades
When it comes to the menace of illegal infiltration, and its consequences, it is not just the USA or Western Europe, which has been facing its brunt. The impact on Bharat has been far worse. Illegal Infiltration through porous regions along the Indo-Bangladesh borders, has resulted in crores of Bangladeshis, and Rohingyas, surreptitiously sneaking into Bharat over decades. The net consequence has been massive demographic change in many places, rising instances of radicalism, human trafficking, rise in cross border illegal trade in narcotics, fake currency, illegal arms, as well as spawning of sleeper cells of dangerous terror modules. In the Northeast Bharat, one can witness how the open border with Myanmar has resulted in massive influx of illegals over decades in states like Manipur, that resulted in the indigenous Meitei community almost being pushed to the corner, and on the verge of becoming minority in terms of population.
One of the key reasons as to why Eastern Europe today is far more tranquil, and does not have a scenario where legal citizens of the country feel insecure in the presence of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, is because unlike Western Europe, the Eastern European countries did not allow mindless invasion of their land by Deep State funded illegal immigrants from Middle East, Northern Africa, or even South Asia.
What Bharat Must Do
As things stand today, Bharat stands at a critical cusp. It can hardly anymore remain oblivion or silent on the issue of organised mass illegal infiltration and its impact on the nation’s long-term security. Therefore, much on the line of the actions being taken by Trump Administration, Bharat needs to put in place a comprehensive policy plan, backed by legal mandate, to deter illegal immigration and to fortify Bharat’s vast borders.
Need for National Border Policy
In the first place, Bharat needs a National Border Policy. There is a need for a uniform approach to deal with international borders. While porous borders must be fenced on a priority basis, open borders must be fenced too. The decision of Modi Government to fence Indo-Myanmar border is commendable, but on the same lines, the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders must also be fenced. It is true that Bharat shares deep cultural, civilisational, and historical relation with Nepal. However, at the same time, the open border has been used to the hilt by Pakistan to push in men, money, material, for orchestrating all kinds of nefarious and subversive activities inside Bharat. Many terror attacks in Bharat had a lot to do with open border with Nepal and porous border with Bangladesh. The Maoists too have used this open border in the past to bring in supplies. Therefore, even though Sashastra Seema Bal or SSB, in charge of securing Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders, has witnessed considerable augmentation in battalions deployed, nevertheless it is imperative for Bharat to fence the border to prevent its misuse. Good relation with neighbour does not mean there should be no walls to the house.
Patterns and Routes of illegal immigration
North America
- The US-Mexico border is one of the most heavily trafficked routes for illegal immigration
- Migrants primarily from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras cross the border, often facilitated by organised smuggling networks
- Policies in the US aim to deter illegal immigration, but poverty and violence in these countries continue to push people northward
Europe
- Europe faces illegal immigration largely from North Africa and the Middle East, with migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea or entering via Eastern Europe
- The European Union (EU) has established various agreements, like the EU-Turkey deal, to manage these flows, but political instability in countries such as Libya and Afghanistan complicates efforts
Asia
- In Asia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan have high rates of undocumented illegal migration to India
- Many Bangladeshis and Rohingya from Myanmar attempt to migrate illegally to Southeast Asian countries like India
Australia
- Australia faces illegal immigration mainly through maritime routes from Southeast Asia.
However, strict immigration and border policies, including offshore processing centres, have reduced unauthorised arrivals significantly
Not just that, it is important to have a dedicated budget for fencing. In essence, Bharat needs to develop a comprehensive anti-infiltration grid in the borders.
National Border Fencing Act
It has often been seen that fencing work has been stalled or massively delayed since land acquisition is a state subject, and as per reports, in some states, such as West Bengal, as per the affidavit submitted in Supreme Court by Government of India in 2023, border fencing has been extremely slow due to tardy pace of land acquisition by the State. It is therefore important for Government of India to bring in a new legislation namely, National Border Fencing Act, that authorises the Central Government to directly acquire land for border fencing. Border fencing must be considered as a national security affair and therefore, cannot be at the mercy of whims and fancies of ruling party of any border state of Bharat.
Uniform Standard Operating Procedure
The Government must also explore the idea of a uniform Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the borders. Anyone who illegally crosses the border, without legal documents, and attempts to evade the border guarding forces, must be considered as a threat to national security. The border guarding forces ideally should be authorised to use lethal power to deal with any such aberrations. In other words, Bharat needs to have the same SOP across all borders, as it has for the Indo-Pakistan border. No law-abiding citizen of one country enters another country in the middle of the night by cutting fences. Thus, no mercy should be shown. Maintaining sanctity of the borders is a must if illegal infiltration and illegal cross-border smugglings are to be stopped.
Also, the treaty with Bangladesh for use of non-lethal weapons in the borders must be reconsidered. Since 2011, Bangladeshi smugglers, and infiltrators, have taken advantage of this treaty to indiscriminately attack BSF personnel with sharp edged weapons, when confronted.
Stringent Punishment for Fake Documents
It is an irony that just about anybody entering Bharat illegally, especially from Bangladesh, can easily avail either genuine ID cards such as Aadhar, Voter-ID cards or Ration Cards through fake documents, or can easily make fake ID cards and use them with impunity. Not only there is sheer lack of enforcement on the part of police forces of most states to keep a check on this, round the year, also, there are no stringent rules to deter those who facilitate illegal infiltrators with valid documents in Bharat.
Bharat must have new laws with non-bailable provisions, and imprisonment running up to 10-15 years for those who have been responsible for facilitating infiltration. Such cartels need to be defined as organised crime syndicates and must be booked under provisions of UAPA or MCOCA. Without demonstrable actions, such ecosystems cannot be dismantled because there are vested interests who want illegal infiltration, especially from Bangladesh to continue unabated, primarily for electoral gains, in the form of captive vote banks, as also those who have an agenda to permanently alter the demography here. It is a reality that demography has already altered in many of the regions of border states along Indo-Bangladesh border, with devastating consequences on Bharat’s electoral democracy and national security. Situation in some parts of Northeast Bharat bordering Myanmar is equally grim.
Deterrence is the Key
It is important to understand that mere identification and deportation of illegal infiltrators, even if done in several thousands every year, may not be enough, unless Bharat gives shape to an architecture of deterrence. Without deterrence, those deported would attempt to sneak in again. There must be stringent punishment in the form of rigorous imprisonment for 10-15 years, if convicted, along with non-bailable provisions, for those who have been illegally staying in Bharat without valid papers or by forging papers. There should be fear in the minds of infiltrators that if they get caught, they might be incarcerated for decades.
SC on Citizenship to Immigrants
In October 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act which grants Indian citizenship to immigrants who came to Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971. SC, by a majority of 4:1, upheld the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act which prescribes a time limit for grant of citizenship to immigrants
Notably, Section 6A creates three categories of immigrants by prescribing two distinct cut-off dates. The first two categories of immigrants are those who had immigrated on or before 24.03.1971 (i.e., those entitled to citizenship), and the third category consists of those who immigrated into Assam after 24.03.1971 and are considered as illegal immigrants who are liable to be deported.
There has to be stringent penalty for those who employ illegal migrants in their factories in Bharat.
Declare Illegal Infiltration a Federal Crime
In a federal republic, there must be provisions for federal crimes, under which the central agencies can directly arrest perpetrators. Such provisions do exist under which NIA or NCB can arrest in specified instances. What is proposed here is that all kinds of cross border crimes, including illegal infiltration should either be in the concurrent list, or they should be designated as federal crimes, wherein border guarding forces can arrest and hand them over directly to central agencies. The reason being that often, some of the states have shown reluctance to stringently pursue cases against illegal infiltrators, or those who facilitate such infiltration. Prosecution by central agencies can have major positive impact in terms of creation of deterrence against illegal infiltration.
Countries with maximum number
of illegal immigrants
- United States: 52 million
- India: 20 million+
- Germany: 16 million
- Saudi Arabia: 14 million
- Russia: 11 million
- United Kingdom: 9 million
Augment Strength of BSF & Other Agencies
In today’s era of hybrid warfare, as stated earlier, organised mass infiltration should ideally be treated as a national security issue. Against this backdrop, given the challenges that Bharat faces along the borders, especially along the Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Myanmar borders, it is extremely important for Centre to not just hand over security of Indo-Myanmar border to BSF, but also go for massive augmentation of strength of BSF. To the very least, Bharat needs to augment strength of BSF by many more battalions, raise India Reserve Battalions from border states, to assist BSF, and simultaneously expand the manpower of organisations like NIA, NCB, ED and Customs, each of which play a critical role in dealing with investigations of acts of money laundering, terrorism, narcotics, fake currencies and illegal arms. It must be remembered that most of these activities often have a cross border connect, especially with countries in the neighbourhood, and each of these activities aid in funding illegal infiltration and vice-versa. Further, Bharat must convert Bureau of Immigration into a law enforcement agency for dealing with identification and deportation of illegal immigrants.
Govt in Action Mode?
With Government of India slated to introduce The Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, it appears some positive steps would be taken by Central Government to deal with the menace of illegal infiltration. It is perhaps now or never, because whether one accepts or not, mass organised illegal infiltration backed by powerful syndicates is today a national security issue for Bharat. This trojan invasion with sinister motives, cannot be fought with combat jets or missiles, but by new legal architecture, development of anti-infiltration grid and fear of stringent punishment.
