On May 10, 2025, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters at a press briefing in Guwahati that the Indian government had now adopted a “push-back” policy for undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh and Rohingya refugees. The announcement came amid reports in the Bangladeshi media that the Assam government and the Border Security Force (BSF) had “pushed” hundreds of undocumented people into Bangladesh, including 78 in the Sundarbans area. Sarma also revealed that inmates designated as convicted foreign nationals (CFN) in the Matia transit camp in Assam’s Goalpara district were among those pushed back into Bangladesh. CFNs are convicted under the Foreigners Act, 1946, for either entering India without travel documents or for overstaying visas.
The Assam Chief Minister’s claims suggest that two groups of undocumented individuals were deported or sent back to Bangladesh: one, those trying to enter India through the border, and two, those already inside India, including CFNs housed at the detention facility in the State. The second group also purportedly includes undocumented Bengali-speaking individuals and Rohingya refugees in different Indian States, including Delhi and Gujarat, who are being rounded up as part of a larger crackdown on so-called “illegal infiltrators”.
These developments have been accompanied by a more sinister report that the Indian government apprehended some 40 Rohingya refugees from Delhi, flew them to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and dropped them in the sea near the coast of south-eastern Myanmar. These forced returns were reportedly undertaken in a Trump-like manner, with the deportees handcuffed and blindfolded through their journey.