Responding to a written question, Union Minister Nityanand Rai said that 227 foreigners were expatriated to their country of origin as of December 5, 2019, while a total of 289 declared foreigners were detained in Assam in 2019, as reported by Times of India.
According to the information made available by the Assam government, as many as 181 declared foreigners and 44 convicted foreigners had completed more than three years in detention.
Furthermore, 128 detainees under Foreigners Act who had completed more than three years in detention centres had been released in accordance with the SC order dated 10/5/2019.
MoS Home Nityanand Rai responded to the question during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha. The minister also informed the parliament that among the foreigners deported this year, four were Bangladeshi nationals and two were Afghans.
About 1.29 lakh people have been pronounced as foreigners by various foreigners’ tribunals in Assam till October this year, Rai said on Tuesday. He also mentioned that 1.14 lakh people who had opposed their status as foreigners were declared as Indian citizens.
Rai said that as many as 4,68,905 cases were sent to the foreigners’ tribunals in Assam as of October 2019. The Foreigners Tribunals in Assam were set up in conformity to the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and The Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964.
Earlier in August, the final NRC list published in Assam excluded 19 lakh people, triggering massive outrage across the state. Many organisations in Assam were dissatisfied with the low figures of exclusion. They argued that the number of people excluded in the NRC is much less than the estimated number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh living in the state.