Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, said on Thursday that the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam), Act (IEAA), a 1950 statute, has forced over 2,000 illegal aliens back across the international border with Bangladesh in recent months.
Speaking to reporters on the first day of the new year, Sarma added that going forward, the state apparatus will force someone who has been deemed a "illegal foreigner" by a foreigners tribunal (FT) to return over the border within a week.
We have thrown back around 2,000 (illegal) aliens across the international border in the last few months. This will undoubtedly lead to fewer immigrants entering Assam illegally, he stated.
"In order to prevent the process (of sending them back) from being delayed by them appealing against the order in high court and Supreme Court, we have decided that those declared foreigners by FT would be pushed back within seven days," Sarma continued.
He said that there used to be a lack of a "no-compromising attitude" when it came to dealing with illegal foreigners, but the state government made driving back illegal foreigners a policy after the Supreme Court sought to expel them and upheld the IEAA, 1950.
