Assam Cabinet Clears SOP: Suspected Illegal Immigrants To Get 10 Days To Prove Citizenship

In a landmark decision, the Assam Cabinet on Tuesday (September 9) approved the framing of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, to streamline the detection and expulsion of illegal immigrants from the state. In a press meet, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also said that Assam has pushed back over 30,000 illegal immigrants in recent times.

As per the SOP, the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) will be empowered to initiate proceedings against suspected illegal migrants. If a DC receives information from police or other sources that a person may be an illegal immigrant, the individual will be given ten days to produce documents proving Indian citizenship.

If the documents are found unsatisfactory, the DC will record his opinion in writing and pass an expulsion order under Section 2(a) of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, directing the individual to leave Assam within 24 hours via a specified route. The order will then be forwarded to the SSP concerned for biometric and demographic data collection on the Foreigners Identification Portal.

For Declared Foreign Nationals (DFNs) already identified by Foreigners’ Tribunals, the DC will directly issue an expulsion order, as these individuals may have exhausted legal remedies in higher courts. In cases where an expelled person refuses to comply, the DC, with the help of the SSP, may detain the individual in a holding centre or hand them over to the border guarding forces for deportation. Migrants caught near the zero line or within 12 hours of entering Assam will be immediately pushed back without further process.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the move was backed by the Supreme Court, which, while upholding Section 6(A) of the Citizenship Amendment Act, clarified that the state government was free to use the 1950 Act to detect and deport foreigners.

“Today, the state cabinet has come up with a Standard Operating Procedure to implement the clause in letter and spirit. Under the new SOP, the DC will give 10 days’ time to a suspected person to prove citizenship. If the DC comes to the conclusion that the person is a foreigner, he will immediately pass an order of evacuation. The foreigner will then be expelled or pushed back from Assam. If the DC can not reach a conclusion, the matter will be forwarded to the Foreigners’ Tribunal,” Sarma said.

Calling it a “landmark decision”, the CM stressed that the new mechanism will make it much easier for the state to detect and deport illegal immigrants. He also disclosed that Assam has already pushed back over 30,000 illegal immigrants in recent times.