'Process to deport 58-59 immigrants from Karnataka on'

Deportation of 58 to 59 foreigners illegally staying in Karnataka are in the process, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

This was disclosed by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai during Question Hour. He was responding to a question posed by Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Rai said the government is tightening the noose around illegal immigrants and instructions have been issued to states to sensitise law enforcement and intelligence agencies for their identification and deportation.

He said during 2008 and 2013, 29 lakh people visited India as tourists, traders and for medical purposes. This number swelled to 56 lakh between 2014 and 2017.

Out of these, 1.34 lakh people illegally stayed between 2008 and 2013 and 1.01 lakh were staying illegally between 2014 and 2017.

"Illegal immigrants enter the country without valid travel documents in a clandestine and surreptitious manner," he said adding added detection, detention and deportation of such illegally staying foreign nationals, including Bangladeshi nationals, is an ongoing process.

"In Karnataka, the process is on to deport 58 or 59 such persons," Rai said.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued instructions to state governments/union territories advising them to sensitize the law enforcement and intelligence agencies for taking appropriate prompt steps for identification of illegal migrants, their restriction to specified locations as per provisions of law, capturing their biographic and biometric particulars, cancellation of fake Indian documents, and legal proceedings including initiation of deportation proceedings as per provisions of law," he said.

"They have also been advised to share the particulars of those illegal migrants who have wrongfully obtained Aadhaar Cards with UIDAI for appropriate legal action. state governments have further been advised to cancel any identification documents obtained fraudulently by illegal migrants, viz, voter card, driving license, ration card etc," he added.