India’s pushback of Bangladeshi migrants strains border relations

India flew 160 undocumented migrants from Bangladesh on an Indian Air Force plane from Ghaziabad to Agartala and then sent them across the land border. By that point, more than 500 migrants had been sent across the eastern border, while Bangladesh objected that people were being pushed into its territory without the normal repatriation process.

The crackdown accelerated after the April 22, 2025 terror attack in Pahalgam, when the Home Ministry pressed states to intensify drives against undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. On May 19, the Union Home Ministry told states and union territories to verify the credentials of suspected illegal immigrants within 30 days and to set up detention centers for people awaiting deportation.

On May 4, two Air India planes carried 300 detainees, including 200 women and children, from Gujarat to Tripura before they were pushed into Bangladesh. Rajasthan officials identified about 1,000 suspected Bangladeshi nationals in the state, and 148 were moved out of Jodhpur on May 14. In late April, Gujarat Police detained more than 1,000 suspected Bangladeshi nationals in Ahmedabad and Surat.

On May 8, Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry wrote to India to complain about people being forced into Bangladesh and urged New Delhi to use established repatriation mechanisms. On May 22, India asked Bangladesh to verify the nationality of 2,369 alleged illegal migrants, some of whose cases had been pending for more than five years. India deported 295 Bangladeshis in 2024 and about 100 more by April 30, 2025.

Migration from Bangladesh and erstwhile East Pakistan has continued since Partition in 1947, and security agencies have tracked the heaviest movement through Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal, often with help from organized tout networks. In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma adopted a push-back policy on May 10, and Frontline put the number at 78 people pushed back in the Sundarbans area, including some convicted foreign nationals from the Matia transit camp.