Illegal Immigration in India

After Reading This Article You Can Solve This UPSC Mains PYQ:

How illegal transborder migration does pose a threat to India’s security? Discuss the strategies to curb this, bring out the factors which give impetus to such migration.  (UPSC Mains 2014, GS-3 Internal Security)

Context:

The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 has replaced colonial-era laws like the Foreigners Act, 1946. The Prime Minister’s High-Powered Demography Mission aims to address demographic shifts in border states (Assam, West Bengal) while balancing the “Viksit Bharat” economic goals.

About Illegal Immigration

• Definition: As per the Citizenship Act (amended) and the 2025 Act, an illegal immigrant is a foreigner who:
  • Enters India without valid travel documents (clandestine entry).
  • Overstays beyond the permitted period of their visa (visa-flipping or overstaying).
• Data and Facts: The Scale of the Issue
• Bangladeshi Influx: Estimates cited in Parliament (2016) suggested approximately 2 crore (20 million) illegal Bangladeshi immigrants reside in India.
• Rohingya Presence: Government data indicates around 75,000 Rohingya immigrants are in India, with roughly 22,000 registered with the UNHCR.
• Operational Success: Under Operation Kalnemi (2025), Uttarakhand authorities arrested 511 individuals, including 19 Bangladeshis, within a single month.
• Global Context: In 2025, the U.S. and EU saw a “restrictionist turn,” with the U.S. projecting negative net migration for 2026 due to mass removals and voluntary departures.

Illegal Immigrant vs. Refugee

• Refugee: A person who flees their country due to a well-founded fear of persecution (religion, race, nationality, political opinion, or social group) and seeks international protection. Defined by the 1951 Refugee Convention (though India is not a signatory).
• Illegal Immigrant: A person who enters or stays in a country without valid legal authorization, primarily for economic or personal reasons, and is governed by domestic immigration laws.

Reasons of Illegal Immigration in India

1. Push Factors (Distress at Home)

• Political Instability & Persecution: Conflict and ethnic violence (e.g., the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar or political turmoil in Bangladesh and Afghanistan).
• Economic Distress: High levels of poverty, stagnant industrial growth, and lack of employment opportunities in neighboring LDCs (Least Developed Countries).
• Climate Change (The “New” Driver): Environmental displacement due to rising sea levels, cyclones, and riverbank erosion in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta.
• Demographic Pressure: Extreme population density in countries like Bangladesh leading to a “crisis of living space.”

2. Pull Factors (Attraction to India)

• Economic Opportunity: The demand for low-skilled, cheap labor in India’s growing construction, textile, and agriculture sectors.
• Better Standard of Living: Access to better healthcare, education, and relative social stability compared to the home country.
• Cultural & Ethnic Affinity: Shared languages (like Bengali), religion, and kinship ties across the border make integration and “disappearing” into the local population easier.
• Welfare Access: The perceived or actual ability to access Indian subsidies and welfare schemes (Aadhaar, Ration cards) through fraudulent means.

3. Facilitating Factors (Structural Gaps)

• Porous Borders: Riverine, hilly, and forested terrain along the 4,096 km Indo-Bangladesh border makes 100% fencing physically and technologically challenging.
• Organized Smuggling Networks: Highly profitable “Donkey Route” syndicates and human traffickers who facilitate clandestine crossings.
• Historical Legacy: The arbitrary nature of the Radcliffe Line (Partition) left many villages and families split across a line that remains culturally “invisible” to locals.

Impact of Illegal Immigration in India

1. Internal Security Threats

• Terrorism & Infiltration: Porous borders allow “sleeper cells” and anti-national elements to enter clandestinely (e.g., links to the 2014 Burdwan blast).
• Transnational Crime: Illegal routes are heavily exploited for Human Trafficking, Cattle Smuggling, and Narco-terrorism (Golden Triangle influence: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos).
• Radicalization: Periodic clashes between indigenous groups and migrants often provide fertile ground for communal polarization and radicalization.
• Identity Fraud: Use of forged documents (Aadhaar, Voter IDs) undermines the integrity of national databases and security screening.

2. Demographic and Social Impact

• Altered Ethnic Balance: Large-scale influx changes the population composition in border districts of Assam and West Bengal, leading to “Son of the Soil” movements.
• Social Friction: Competition for resources leads to ethnic and communal tensions (e.g., the historical Assam Movement and the 2012 Kokrajhar riots).
• Urban Strain: Migrants often settle in urban slums (Delhi, Mumbai), leading to unplanned urbanization and pressure on sanitation and housing.

3. Economic Impact

• Wage Suppression: Illegal immigrants often work for lower wages, which displaces local low-skilled laborers and depresses the local wage market.
• Resource Depletion: Increased pressure on land, forests, and water. In the Northeast, this has led to the encroachment of forest lands and ecologically sensitive areas.
• Fiscal Burden: Diversion of state welfare benefits (free rations, healthcare) to non-citizens, straining the exchequer.

4. Political Impact

• Vote Bank Politics: Accusations of “document-for-vote” rackets lead to polarized electoral politics and weaken the democratic mandate.
• Administrative Cost: Enormous state expenditure is diverted to border fencing (CIBMS), maintenance of Foreigners’ Tribunals, and NRC-like exercises.

Key Government Initiatives to Combat Illegal Immigration in India

1. Legislative & Digital Overhaul

• Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025: Replaces 20th-century laws (1920, 1939, 1946) with a single, unified code.
  • Codification of Power: Formally codifies the powers of the Bureau of Immigration to detain and deport.
  • Burden of Proof: Shifts the responsibility to the individual to prove legal citizenship (reaffirming Section 9 of the old Foreigners Act).
• Integrated Immigration Management System (IIMS): A new digital successor to IVFRT. It integrates biometric data from airports, seaports, and land checkpoints into a real-time tracking database.
• Foreigners Identification Portal: Operational in over 700 districts to help local police identify and track “overstaying” foreigners.

2. Strategic Missions

• High-Powered Demography Mission (Launched late 2025): Focus: Aimed at identifying and rectifying demographic distortions in sensitive border districts.
  • Method: Uses AI-based data analytics to cross-reference birth records, land records, and Aadhaar data to find anomalies in population growth.
• Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026: A nationwide exercise to sanitize electoral rolls in 12 states (including UP, WB, and Assam) to remove undocumented residents before the 2026 state assembly elections.

3. Border Management (Physical & Technological)

• CIBMS (Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System):
  • “Smart Fencing”: Utilizing laser walls, thermal imagers, and seismic sensors.
  • Project BOLD-QIT: Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique deployed in riverine areas of the Brahmaputra where physical fencing is impossible.
• Anti-Drone Grid: Installation of high-mast lighting and electronic jamming systems along the western and eastern borders to prevent the “drone-drop” of forged identity documents and weapons.
• Operation Sindoor: A targeted operation to curb infiltration along the Nepal-India porous border by strengthening physical checking at transit points.

4. Administrative Tightening

• Aadhaar Sanitization: State governments (like Assam) have restricted Aadhaar issuance to adults only through District Commissioners to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining IDs.
• Detention & Holding Centres: Directed by the MHA in 2025, states are setting up district-level temporary holding centers to house “suspected foreigners” during the 30-day verification window.

6. Global Initiatives & Perspective

• Global Compact for Migration (GCM): India is a signatory to this IOM framework for safe and orderly migration.
• Non-Signatory Status: India remains not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, preferring an ad-hoc, humanitarian approach to protect sovereignty.
• Regional Protocols: Use of BIMSTEC for joint verification and repatriation talks with Dhaka and Naypyidaw.

Challenges in Tackling Illegal Immigration in India

• Difficult Terrain: Dense forests in Meghalaya and swampy marshes in the Sundarbans provide natural cover for clandestine entry, making manual patrolling inefficient.
• Ethnic & Linguistic Contiguity: This “Ethnic Camouflage” makes it nearly impossible for security forces to distinguish them from locals.
• Document Fraud Syndicates: Sophisticated networks create “Identity Packages” (fake birth certificates, ration cards) which are then used to legitimately obtain Aadhaar cards, effectively “laundering” their identity.
• Burden of Proof: Under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 (and the previous 1946 Act), the burden of proof lies on the individual.
• Tribunal Backlogs: Over 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) are overwhelmed with cases. Disposed cases are often challenged in Higher Courts, leading to a “Judicial Stalemate.”
• Lack of a Refugee Law: India’s lack of a formal refugee law leads to “Strategic Ambiguity,” where the state struggles to legally distinguish between Persecuted Refugees (humanitarian) and Economic Infiltrators (security).
• Vote Bank Politics: Local political patronage often provides a “protective shield” to illegal immigrants in exchange for electoral support.
• Humanitarian Advocacy: Strict deportation drives are often challenged by civil society on grounds of Non-Refoulement (customary international law), creating a conflict between “National Security” and “Human Rights.”

Way Forward: Tackling Illegal Immigration in India

1. Legislative Reform: India needs a dedicated National Asylum/Refugee Law to clearly distinguish between Refugees (fleeing persecution) and Illegal Migrants (seeking economic gain).

2. Smart Borders: Rapidly scaling the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) to cover all riverine and hilly gaps using laser walls, satellite surveillance (Cartosat/GSAT-7), and AI-driven motion sensors.

3. Diplomatic Repatriation Treaties: India must leverage “Small Tables” (like BIMSTEC) to sign formal Repatriation Treaties with Bangladesh and Myanmar. Establishing clear, time-bound protocols for nationality verification and the return of undocumented individuals to reduce the burden on detention centers.

4. “Vibrant Villages” & Community Policing: Strengthening the Vibrant Villages Programme to prevent the outmigration of Indian citizens from border areas, which often creates “demographic vacuums” that illegal immigrant fill.

• Utilizing Village Defence Committees (VDCs) as a “human sensor” network to report clandestine movements in real-time

Conclusion

Illegal immigration is no longer just a border issue; it is a complex governance challenge involving technology, human rights, and regional diplomacy. While the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 provides the teeth, India’s success will lie in ensuring that the hunt for “infiltrators” does not compromise the dignity and rights of its own citizens.