Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday said that the state government deported 194 Bangladeshi nationals out of 658 prosecuted since 2021 as part of a drive against “illegal” migration, The Hindu reported.

Speaking in the Assembly, Tynsong said that action had been taken against these Bangladeshi nationals who entered Meghalaya “illegally” between 2021 and February 3.

“The 194 were deported after they completed their sentences, and travel permits were secured from the Bangladeshi authorities,” The Hindu quoted Tynsong, who also holds the home (police) portfolio, as saying.

He added that a “multi-layered mechanism” had been put in place to check infiltration. As part of it, 18 check posts, entry gates and a land customs station had been established along vulnerable stretches of the state’s border with Assam and Bangladesh.

Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh. Of this, 76 km remains unfenced.

Tynsong also noted that a state-level monitoring committee was overseeing the implementation of the anti-infiltration measures, The Hindu reported.

Action was taken against undocumented immigrants under provisions of the 2016 Meghalaya Resident Safety and Security Act, the 2005 Immigration and Foreigners’ Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, he added.

This comes against the backdrop of several persons being forced into Bangladesh since April 2025 after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after the state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.