Guwahati: Police in Assam's Sribhumi district apprehended and expelled 28 Bangladeshi nationals allegedly staying in the state illegally, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.
"Assam's patience with illegal infiltration is over. 28 illegal migrants detected by Sribhumi Police were expelled," Sarma posted on X. "We will continue this mission with unwavering determination. No compromise on our borders. No compromise on the security and identity of Assam."
Sribhumi, the state's southernmost district, was renamed from Karimganj in November 2024. It borders Bangladesh's Sylhet division and is one of four Assam districts on the international boundary, along with Dhubri, South Salmara-Mankachar and Cachar. Assam has an integrated checkpost in Sribhumi and a land customs station at Mankachar.
The expulsions are carried out under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950. The state cabinet approved a standard operating procedure under the Act in September last year, empowering district commissioners to issue expulsion orders against anyone they hold to be a foreigner. "Pushback" drives along the border have run since May last year, several of them at night and announced by the Chief Minister on social media.
The numbers are not marginal. In a written reply to the Assembly this year, Assam Accord Implementation Minister Atul Bora said 2,089 illegal foreigners were deported, sent back or expelled from the state between 2016 and June 30, 2026, of whom 2,023 were sent to Bangladesh. The single largest year accounted for 1,811 of them.
The border itself is only partly sealed. Assam shares 267.5 km with Bangladesh, watched by 91 Border Security Force border outposts, 14 Assam Police outposts as a second line and 14 patrol posts. A 4.35-km stretch along the Kushiyara river in Sribhumi remains unfenced because of objections from Border Guard Bangladesh, and is covered by BSF patrols instead. The BSF has stepped up vigil along the 1,885-km India-Bangladesh border in the Northeast since the 2024 disturbances in Bangladesh, and Assam Police remain on high alert along the riverine and land routes.
Infiltration has become a set piece of Assam politics. BJP ministers have spent the past week accusing the INDIA bloc of wanting a "Bangladesh-like regime change" in India, and the Chief Minister has promised an infiltration-free state. Opposition parties have questioned both the pace of the drive and the process behind it, arguing that pushbacks announced on social media are no substitute for a border that is actually fenced.
Saturday's operation is the latest in a series. Thirty-six suspected Bangladeshi nationals were detained at a ferry ghat in Dhubri last week after police stopped a boat carrying around 120 people from South Salmara-Mankachar, and more than 20 were picked up from Guwahati hotels and railway stations earlier.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)