Assam’s border police on 14 November pushed back 10 Rohingya refugees and six Bangladeshi nationals who had slipped across the state’s porous frontiers, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The early-morning operation involved coordination between state police, the Border Security Force and immigration officials at the Sutarkandi checkpoint. All 16 individuals were handed to Bangladeshi authorities under existing repatriation protocols.
The move is part of a wider campaign launched in September to stem undocumented migration that New Delhi views as a security risk and a demographic flash-point. Assam has deported 143 Rohingya and 112 Bangladeshi nationals so far this fiscal year, official figures show, compared with just 61 in the whole of 2024. Authorities say trafficking networks exploit riverine stretches where fencing is incomplete.
![Assam Deports 16 Illegal Entrants in Fresh Border Crackdown]()
For multinational employers running plants in Assam, heightened checks mean that workforce documentation audits are more likely. Contractors must ensure that casual labour hired through agencies possess Aadhaar and valid work authorisations; penalty provisions under the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025 now include fines up to ₹10 lakh and jail terms of seven years for wilful violations.
From a humanitarian standpoint, advocacy groups have urged the government to establish screening centres to differentiate genuine asylum-seekers from economic migrants. The Ministry of Home Affairs maintains that India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and therefore evaluates such cases on an ad-hoc basis.
Employers should update travel security briefings for staff transiting border districts, as police checkpoints and identity verification drives are expected to intensify ahead of state elections in April 2026.
The move is part of a wider campaign launched in September to stem undocumented migration that New Delhi views as a security risk and a demographic flash-point. Assam has deported 143 Rohingya and 112 Bangladeshi nationals so far this fiscal year, official figures show, compared with just 61 in the whole of 2024. Authorities say trafficking networks exploit riverine stretches where fencing is incomplete.
For multinational employers running plants in Assam, heightened checks mean that workforce documentation audits are more likely. Contractors must ensure that casual labour hired through agencies possess Aadhaar and valid work authorisations; penalty provisions under the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025 now include fines up to ₹10 lakh and jail terms of seven years for wilful violations.
From a humanitarian standpoint, advocacy groups have urged the government to establish screening centres to differentiate genuine asylum-seekers from economic migrants. The Ministry of Home Affairs maintains that India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and therefore evaluates such cases on an ad-hoc basis.
Employers should update travel security briefings for staff transiting border districts, as police checkpoints and identity verification drives are expected to intensify ahead of state elections in April 2026.
