Deportation of illegal immigrants in progress: MHA

Deportation of 58 to 59 foreigners illegally staying in Karnataka is 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 was tightening the noose round illegal immigrants and instructions had been issued to states to sensitise law enforcement and
intelligence agencies on their identification and deportation.

29 lakh tourists

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 detection, detention and deportation of such illegally staying foreign nationals,
including Bangladeshi nationals, was an ongoing process.

Identity documents

State governments have further been advised to cancel any identification documents obtained fraudulently by illegal migrants, namely, voter card, driving licence, ration card etc, the minister added.