Overview
- The state Home and Hill Affairs Department issued an order on May 23 requiring district magistrates to set up temporary holding centres to process alleged undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingyas under existing central deportation guidelines.
- Late Tuesday and Wednesday hundreds of people gathered at the Hakimpur (Bithari-Hakimpur) checkpost seeking to return to Bangladesh as local officials and the chief minister urged suspected migrants to leave voluntarily.
- Security forces have begun on-the-ground processing: BSF officers said they question detainees, record fingerprints and photos, and contact Border Guard Bangladesh for repatriation; BSF data for one day showed 150 checks with 60 pushed back and 90 handed to police.
- The government has activated holding centres in Malda, Murshidabad and Tetulia and moved dozens of detainees there for verification and up to 30 days of processing, though cross-border returns have been delayed in some cases by objections from the BGB.
- The state has transferred about 142.79 acres to the BSF for fencing and new outposts, a pledge the BJP frames as fulfilling election promises, while migrants and families report forced returns and claim some held Indian identity cards that they say were obtained with local political help.