WB govt asks districts to build 'holding centres' for illegal foreigners amid anti-infiltration

KOLKATA: (May 24) West Bengal's BJP government has moved to institutionalise its "detect, delete and deport" policy by directing all district administrations to set up "holding centres" for suspected illegal foreigners and foreign prisoners awaiting repatriation -- a step that appeared to give administrative shape to one of the party's most potent political themes in the state.

The order, issued by the state Home and Hill Affairs Department's Foreigners' Branch on May 23, asked district magistrates to create the infrastructure required to house "apprehended foreigners" and "released foreign prisoners" until deportation formalities are completed.

Though framed as a procedural exercise aligned with central guidelines, the directive comes days after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari publicly rolled out a tougher anti-infiltration framework and declared that his government had adopted a "detect, delete and deport" policy -- a phrase long embedded in the BJP's Bengal vocabulary on infiltration and border politics.