'Will urge Centre to simplify rules’: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on illegal immigration

Bengaluru: The state government would urge the union government to simplify the provisions of law so that states could directly deport illegal immigrants to avoid delays in the process, Home Minister G Parameshwara told the Legislative Council on Monday.

Responding to a question by P H Poojar of the BJP about the increase in illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in Vijayapura district, the minister said, “The Centre should simplify the deportation process.”

“Not just Bangladesh, there are illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Africa also. Recently, we caught 20 people from Pakistan and deporting them has been a long process. Once we catch them, we need to book a case, file an FIR and put them in a detention centre. But when we register an FIR, they manage to get bail. Considering all these, we have decided to request the Centre to simplify the deportation process and allow us to deport them directly,” Parameshwara said.

The home minister said that the Centre should strengthen the Border Security Force, so that illegal immigrants are stopped from entering the country.

He said it was difficult to identify illegal immigrants as they manage to get Aadhaar cards and ration cards. “The highest number of illegal immigrants work in the coffee estates,” Parameshwara said.

He said, “We have sensitised police officers at the district level on how to identify and verify details about illegal immigrants.”