West Bengal deports 4,800 undocumented Bangladeshis, holds 836 more as new government fills district centres

West Bengal authorities have deported nearly 5,000 Bangladeshi citizens and placed hundreds more in district holding centres under a new state policy targeting undocumented migrants. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Sunday that 4,800 people had been removed from the centres and another 836 were still inside awaiting deportation.

The state government has opened holding centres in every district since the BJP took power in West Bengal one month ago.

At the Hakimpur checkpoint in North 24 Parganas district, 250 to 300 people have arrived each day since the end of May. Officers verify citizenship and collect biometric data before moving families to centres or the border. Raisul Islam, 38, from Satkhira district in Bangladesh, reached the crossing on 10 June 2026 with his wife Rebeka Khatun, 36, and sons Riad, 14, and Jubair, 16.

The family entered India two years ago after paying a tout nearly $250. They worked as masons in Kolkata and earned about $10 a day between them. Security forces later took the family from Hakimpur to a detention centre 18 km away.

Mirazul Ghazi, 42, his wife Sabina Yasmin, 36, and their son Nayem, 18, arrived at the same post after living in Kolkata for five years. The couple earned about $12 a day as construction workers until their landlord asked them to leave following the new government’s orders. Hakimpur lies about 80 km from Kolkata along India’s 4,096 km land border with Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Shama Obaid said Dhaka had sent 12 to 13 letters to New Delhi requesting adherence to nationality verification procedures. The Border Guard Bangladesh reported it had blocked at least 18 attempts by India’s Border Security Force to push roughly 180 people across the border since 4 June. Border forces from both countries began three-day talks on Monday.