Guwahati: A major infiltration attempt from Bangladesh into India via Assam was thwarted, with 21 illegal migrants pushed back to the neighbouring country in the early hours of Sunday.“Alert eyes. Midnight action. At 12:30 AM sharp, 21 illegal migrants were sent back to their respective country, thanks to the ever-watchful @sribhumipolice,” CM Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X. It has been one of the biggest pushbacks of illegal migrants in recent months.He said they were returned soon after being caught. “Apprehended. Documented. Sent back home. Seems like while most people were dreaming, our police were wide awake doing the night shift for the nation. Sleep can wait when duty calls,” Sarma wrote. Those pushed back included at least six children and several women.Following unrest in Bangladesh, multiple infiltration attempts along the India-Bangladesh border were foiled by security forces and police on the Assam side. The state govt has adopted a policy of pushing back migrants from the border itself.Sribhumi district in south Assam’s Barak Valley remains among the most vulnerable areas for such attempts. In Sept last year, 39 illegal infiltrators were pushed back in a single case from the Sribhumi sector to Bangladesh. A few days later that month, police in neighbouring Cachar district apprehended 24 illegal settlers and pushed them back.At the end of 2025, Sarma, referring to pushback efforts during the year, said the government would be ruthless in 2026 in driving out illegal infiltrators through the pushback policy.Sarma also said the pushbacks were carried out within a legal framework.“Pushback is happening on two fronts. One, the people who are residing within the state of Assam and under Immigrants Expulsion Act, now we are empowered to push back any foreigner who is coming post-1971. By utilising that power, we are pushing back people (illegal immigrants) — those who are inside Assam as well as those who are coming now,” he had said in a news conference here previously.March 25, 1971, is the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal foreigners from Assam, as endorsed in the 1985 Assam Accord.
