The Indian government has decided to deport undocumented migrants and, as part of the process, has urged Bangladesh to verify the nationality of over 2,300 people, officials said on Thursday (May 22).

External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told media in a weekly briefing.

He said that the verification of the nationality of many of these people by Bangladesh has been pending for almost five years.

“We have asked the Bangladeshi side to verify their nationality. We have a pending list of 2,369 of people who are required to be deported,” he said while responding to a question regarding pushing back people into Bangladesh.

“Foreigners staying in India illegally, whether they happen to be Bangladeshi nationals or any other national, they will be dealt with as per law. We have a large number of Bangladesh nationals here who are required to be deported,” he said.

“Many of them have actually completed their jail sentences, and in many cases, the nationality verification is pending since 2020. So almost five years have gone by. We would urge the Bangladeshi side to expedite the verification process so that people who are required to be deported can be sent back to Bangladesh,” Jaiswal said.

MSK/