A crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is ongoing in Delhi. This campaign against Bangladeshi immigrants began in November 2024 following directives from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It is reported that the campaign was further intensified following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025.

The national capital, Delhi, is undergoing a continuous crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Delhi Police claims that a total of 1,589 illegal Bangladeshis were identified and apprehended in the capital from June 2025 to February 2026. All of them were subsequently deported back to Bangladesh via the Agartala-Bangladesh border. This is more than double the 720 individuals apprehended in the previous seven months (November 2024 to May 2025).

This campaign against Bangladeshi migrants began in November 2024 following directives from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Ministry had ordered the identification, verification, and detention of illegal Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya refugees. The Delhi Police initiated the operation. According to Delhi Police data, between November 15, 2024, and April 20, 2025, approximately 220 illegal Bangladeshi migrants were detained and handed over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). They were then transported by rail and road to eastern states and deported to Bangladesh via the border.

The operation gained momentum after the Pahalgam attack.

The operation reportedly intensified after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025. Nearly 500 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were detected within a month. From June 2025 to February 2026, 1,589 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and 55 Rohingyas were detained. According to the data, the highest number of people detained in 2025 were from Outer Delhi (386), followed by South-East (287), North-West (249), North (194), South (191), Outer-North (183), South-West (168), Central (140), West (148), East (118), Dwarka (99), Shahdara (80), Rohini (71), North-East (57), and New Delhi (20).

Bangladeshis found working in brick kilns

A senior Delhi Police officer said, "The Outer District team received information that most of the migrants were working as laborers in brick kilns in the border areas of Haryana and Rajasthan. We traced their contractors and associates and conducted a search operation and detained all the illegal Bangladeshi migrants."

Sent back by trains and planes

Initially, DCPs from 15 police districts led the verification drive. Those apprehended were transported by train to West Bengal under the supervision of FRRO officers and then transported by bus to BSF checkpoints. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, they were repatriated via special flights from Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad to Agartala. Since then, 1,589 Bangladeshi migrants have been repatriated via several special flights from Hindon.

Instructions to all States and Union Territories

District police, crime branches, and special cells have registered numerous FIRs and filed several chargesheets to investigate the network of illegal immigrants, providing fake documents, addresses, and jobs. The Home Ministry has directed police chiefs of all states and union territories to increase border surveillance.

 PC:TV9Bhatarvarsh