5,457 ‘illegal’ Migrants Found in Manipur’s Kamjong District, Deportation Process Underway

The Manipur government has detected 5,457 illegal immigrants in a district in the state, and out of them, biometric data of 5,173 immigrants have been collected, said chief minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday. Taking to X, Singh wrote, “The Government has detected a total of 5457 illegal immigrants in Kamjong District, Manipur as on May 7th, 2024. Out of the total, the biometric data of 5173 such illegal immigrants have been collected so far.”

He said that the deportation of illegal immigrants from Manipur is underway. “Deportation process is underway. We have been giving humanitarian aides to all the illegal immigrants who were detected so far. Despite being an alarming situation, we have been handling it with utmost sensitivity,” Singh added. On May 2, Singh informed that the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar has been completed in Manipur, with 38 immigrants exiting the country via Moreh, a border town located about 110 km south of Imphal in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district which borders Myanmar. He even shared a social media post in this regard. The Myanmar nationals fled to Manipur after the Military junta seized power in that country on February 1, 2021.

Since the Military took over in Myanmar more than three years ago and the armed clashes have been going on between the Army and the pro-democracy civilian armed forces, over 5,000 Myanmar nationals, including women and children, have taken shelter in Manipur while over 32,000 people have taken shelter in Mizoram. Hundred Myanmarese soldiers also fled to Mizoram in different phases after their camps were captured by the armed pro-democracy ethnic groups, who stepped up their battle against the Army in early October last year. However, all the Army personnel were deported to their country in different phases. Following the advice of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Manipur government has been collecting the biometric details of the Myanmar nationals, sheltered in the state.