Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday claimed that 20 undocumented migrants from Bangladesh had been apprehended and sent back.

“Rude people don’t understand soft language,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said on social media. “We continuously remind ourselves of this prophetic line when we expel infiltrators from Assam who don’t leave themselves.”

Sharing a blurred image of the persons who had been detained, Sarma said: “For instance these 20 illegal Bangladeshis who were pushed back last night. Assam will fight, pushbacks will continue.”

Sarma has repeatedly said that the Assam government was committed to ensuring an “infiltration-free” Assam, claiming that about 35 to 40 “illegal” immigrants were being “pushed back” every week.

In January, the chief minister said that the state government would “push back” undocumented migrants into Bangladesh within a week of them being declared foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunals. The state government did not need a repatriation treaty between New Delhi and Dhaka for this, he added.

Sarma had also said the Assam government had forced 2,000 persons into Bangladesh between October and December, adding that the policy had been adopted after the revival of the 1950 Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act.

The Act grants power to district commissioners and senior superintendents of police to expel “illegal migrants” from the state by bypassing the Foreigners’ Tribunals.

In September, the Assam Cabinet approved the framing of a standard operating procedure under the Act. Earlier, cases pertaining to undocumented migrants were handled by the Foreigners’ Tribunals.

Such tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship. They have been accused of arbitrariness and bias, and of declaring people foreigners on the basis of minor spelling mistakes, a lack of documents or lapses in memory.

Those declared foreigners by the tribunals have the option to appeal the decision before the Gauhati High Court or the Supreme Court. Additionally, as the formal process entails undocumented migrants being handed over to the authorities of the other country after verifying their citizenship, several persons have not been deported despite being declared foreigners.

Since the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, the police in several states ruled by the BJP have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asked them to prove that they are Indian citizens.

Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

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