PrintFriendlyIndia must transform Bureau of Immigration into a law enforcement agency to streamline actions against illegal immigrants
The month of May, 2025 was marked by several important events. While Operation Sindoor clearly demonstrated the prowess of India’s strategic military capability, and firmly established India’s new-age counter terror doctrine, Operation Black Forest, undertaken by CRPF and elite units of Chhattisgarh Police, broke the backbone of the Maoist movement by striking into the heart of Maoist bastions in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh, and neutralizing some of the top commanders of CPI (Maoist). Meanwhile, it was also announced that India has crossed the $4 trillion GDP mark, and is officially now the 4th largest economy of the world.
The Deportation Drive
Amidst all these, an issue that did not get much of limelight is that of intense drive being undertaken across India against Bangladeshis, and Rohingyas, staying illegally in India. Illegal infiltration has become a major menace for India, not just because many such elements have been involved in criminal activities, and espionage against India, but also because the magnitude of such illegal migration have been so profound that in many of the border districts of India, especially along the Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal region, an alarming shift in demography, as well as exodus of Hindus could clearly be noticed.
Incidentally, the passage of the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, by Modi Government, that has more stringent provisions, punitive actions, and penalty against not just the infiltrators but also their facilitators, has been a major shot in the arm for the law enforcement agencies to prepare stronger legal cases against those staying illegally in India.
Union Home Ministry has also sent a directive to all states, including a well-defined Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on how to identify, detain and deport the illegal immigrants. It has asked states to set up Special Task Force units in every district, holding centers to detain suspected illegals, recording of biometrics, verification of claims, and subsequent process of deportation by involving BSF or other agencies.
The Need for Central Coordination
While Union Home Ministry’s initiatives to streamline the procedure of deportation is commendable, an issue that is of concern is whether putting onus on states to identify, detain, verify and deport illegals would yield optimum results or not. It is true that India does not have a concept of federal policing system. But does identification and deportation of foreigners come under the purview of ‘law and order’, which is a state subject? Would it not be better if there is a Central Organisation acting as a Nodal Agency for nationwide coordination of the process of identification and deportation of illegals?
In this context, what appears to be the most feasible solution is to convert the Bureau of Immigration into a law enforcement agency, and which may act as the Central Deportation Enforcement Agency.
Transforming Bureau of Immigration
Bureau of Immigration, or BOI, which operates under the Union Home Ministry, and is responsible for facilitating immigration related activities in airports, sea ports and land ports, already has the basic architecture in place. In many countries, agencies equivalent to India’s BOI is responsible for both facilitating legal immigration and also, enforcing deportation of illegals. Take for the example the functions of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE, which is designated as a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. Among its multiple units tasked with specific mandates, a critical one is Enforcement and Removal Operations, whose primary function is identification and deportation of undocumented immigrants. In fact, ICE literally does door-to-door checking, based on intelligence inputs, in search of illegal immigrants.
Success Stories of Central Coordination
In the Indian context, in the realm of counter terror architecture and anti-narcotics operations, there are central organizations, who work in tandem with their state level counterparts to develop a robust and well-structured pan-India framework for optimum result delivery.
How NIA Transformed Counter Terror Operations
Even though all the states have their own Anti-Terrorist Squad or ATS, there is a dedicated central law enforcement agency namely, NIA, which has eventually emerged as the pivotal force behind India’s massive counter-terror success stories. NIA, with its pan-India presence, works in close coordination with state level counter terror units, and other central agencies. In the aftermath of 26/11 terror attack, even though law & order is a state subject, it was rightly felt that a central agency with unambiguous legal mandate is needed to deal with the rising menace of terrorism, because terrorism is a national security issue. Thus, NIA Act came into being. Over the last five years, NIA has witnessed massive expansion and capacity building under the guidance of Amit Shah as Union Home Minister.
NCB’s Success Story as Nodal Agency
In case of India’s anti-narcotics organizational architecture as well, at the helm there is the Narcotics Control Bureau or NCB, which is a central agency, while each state now has its own anti-narcotics unit. In 2022, MHA had expanded the manpower of NCB to 2900, along with opening of more number of zonal and sub-zonal offices. Simultaneously, MHA also ordered every state of India to set up a dedicated Anti-Narcotics Task Force.
Earlier, MHA had also set up the NCORD, or the Narco Coordination Centre with four tiers of coordination, down to district level. NCB is thus the nodal agency for coordination among all the Drug Law Enforcement Agencies in India. The synchronized approach between NCB and other agencies including the state level units, Indian Coast Guard, and Customs, have been massively successful in confiscating huge consignments of narcotics, and neutralizing several narco-terror syndicates.
NCB Model for BOI
Following the footsteps of India’s anti-terror and anti-narcotics setup, India must consider converting Bureau of Immigration, into a law enforcement agency, as well as, the nodal agency for coordinating and streamlining deportation process. BOI will have to play the lead role and not a supporting role in the process of deporting tens of millions of illegal infiltrators. Ideally the organization should be redesignated as Bureau of Immigration and Deportation. Much on the lines of how NCB coordinates with state units even at the district level, BOI must set up branch offices in every state of India, and coordinate with state specific STFs set up for this purpose, bring latest technological capabilities, intelligence inputs, and big data analytics to identify and deport undocumented immigrants.
Amend Laws if Necessary
Given the enormity of complexities involved, and vested interests in play to prevent deportations, a whole-of-nation approach is needed to pool in resources for fighting this menace of organised illegal immigration, which is no less than an organised crime backed by powerful cartels. The Centre would have to take the lead role in spearheading the entire process. While some states are definitely taking proactive actions, others may not, given the excuse of lack of resources, as well as political compulsions of vote bank.
Thus, Bureau of Immigration’s emergence as a law enforcement agency to spearhead deportation of illegals, is now a necessity. If needed, necessary legislative reforms must be made to make BOI unleash its real potential.
Author
(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)