West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has directed district magistrates to establish holding centres for illegal immigrants ahead of deportation
May 24, 2026: Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday directed all district magistrates in West Bengal to establish “holding centres” for apprehended illegal immigrants before their deportation. The move advances the BJP’s electoral slogan of “detect, delete and deport” illegal foreigners. An order issued by the Foreigners’ Branch and SAARC Visa Section of the state home department instructed officials to act in accordance with a May 2025 directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the deportation process for alleged illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants.
According to the order, the holding centres will accommodate apprehended foreigners as well as released foreign prisoners awaiting deportation or repatriation. The decision follows a recent high-level meeting chaired by Adhikari with senior officers of the Border Security Force and state police, during which land was reportedly handed over for fencing 27 kilometres of unfenced stretches along the India-Bangladesh border. Adhikari also directed state police to detain illegal immigrants and coordinate with the BSF for their deportation through Border Guard Bangladesh.
The issue of illegal immigration remained a major political theme during the recent Bengal Assembly elections, where the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the previous All India Trinamool Congress government of failing to act against infiltration. The BJP alleged that large numbers of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants were residing in the state. The development also comes amid earlier controversies involving the detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states over suspicions of illegal immigration, which had triggered political protests by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.