The Centre has said illegal immigrants such as the Rohingyas pose grave security challenges as they may be recruited by terror groups, and asked State governments to identify and deport them.

In a communication to all States, the Union Home Ministry said the rise of terrorism in the past few decades has become a serious concern for most nations as illegal migrants are more vulnerable to getting recruited by terrorist organisations.

“These illegal immigrants not only infringe on the rights of Indian citizens, but also pose grave security challenges,” the communication, sent last week, said.

Infiltration of (Rohingyas) from Rakhine State of Myanmar into Indian territory,besides being a burden on the limited resources of the country, also aggravates security challenges posed to India, the Home Ministry said.

Rohingya numbers

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on August 9 that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, presently stay in India. “However, some inputs indicate that around 40,000 Rohingyas are staying in India illegally; they are largely located in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan,” he had said.

On November 16, 2016, the government had informed Parliament that there were around 20 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants staying in India.

“Due to cultural and ethnic similarities, on many occasions such migration goes unnoticed and they settle in Indian territory,” said Dilip Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry, in the letter sent on August 8. The Centredirected State to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally staying foreign nationals.

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