Overview
- The state Home and Hill Affairs Department issued a notification on May 23 requiring every district to create temporary holding centres to house apprehended foreigners and released foreign prisoners until deportation formalities are complete.
- Under central MHA guidance and the Immigration and Foreigners Act (2025), detainees may be held up to 30 days while district magistrates verify nationality, collect biometrics and upload records to central databases.
- Malda became the first district to open a holding centre, where nine suspected Bangladeshi nationals including women and minors were lodged as authorities carried out verification and security arrangements.
- More than a hundred alleged Bangladeshi nationals gathered at the Hakimpur checkpoint in North 24 Parganas seeking return or awaiting repatriation, and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari urged officials to expedite handovers to the BSF for coordination with Bangladesh border authorities.
- Opposition leaders warned the scheme risks wrongful detention and political targeting, while supporters say the move enacts the BJP’s ‘detect, delete and deport’ pledge and reasserts border enforcement across West Bengal.