30

May

Stateless at the Border: The Children Missing from India’s Deportation Debate

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Amod K. Kanth           And     Amitabh Srivastava   

                                  

New Delhi | Saturday | May 30, 2026


The most haunting images emerging from West Bengal in recent weeks are not of border fences or official crackdowns, but of frightened families carrying children through uncertainty. Men, women and children branded as “illegal migrants” are reportedly gathering near the India-Bangladesh border, unsure whether they will be pushed across into a country many may have left years ago, or where some children may never have lived at all. Amid the political and administrative urgency surrounding deportation drives, one troubling question remains largely ignored: what happens to the children?
The immediate trigger for this panic has been the West Bengal government’s decision to create “holding centres” for suspected undocumented migrants pending deportation. Reports suggest that the state administration has also directed authorities to intensify identification and deportation processes concerning alleged illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Yet, beyond the politics and legality of immigration enforcement lies a deeper humanitarian and constitutional issue involving children whose identities, citizenship, and futures are now under threat.
The India-Bangladesh border has always been more complex than political rhetoric allows. Vast stretches are marked by riverine islands and shifting land formations shaped by rivers such as the Brahmaputra in India and the Padma in Bangladesh. Entire settlements disappear, reappear, or shift as rivers change course. Families living in these regions often possess fragile documentation, uncertain land records, and histories of migration spanning generations. In such circumstances, determining citizenship is rarely a simple administrative exercise.
Our concern is particularly about children who may become collateral victims of an aggressive “detect, delete and deport” policy. The March 2025 Immigration and Foreigners Act introduced a 30-day verification process for suspected migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Assam has already initiated implementation, and West Bengal now appears prepared to follow. But there has been little public discussion about how these measures will affect children, especially those classified under Indian law as “Children in Need of Care and Protection” (CNCP) under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
For organisations like Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre, which has worked with vulnerable children across 12 States and Union Territories for nearly four decades, the silence around this issue is alarming. Thousands of children may suddenly find themselves trapped between borders, stripped not only of security but also of nationality itself.
Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), ratified by India in 1992, clearly states that every child has the right to be registered at birth, to have a name and nationality, and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents. The UNCRC remains the world’s most widely accepted child rights instrument, endorsed by 196 countries, including India.
These are not abstract moral principles. Through legislation such as the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, and the Juvenile Justice Act, many of these protections have become enforceable legal rights in India. The principle of the “best interest of the child” is central to Indian child protection law. Any state action affecting children must therefore be judged against this standard.
This is why the resurfacing of detention centres in public discourse is deeply disturbing. Under Indian law, separation of children from parents is permitted only under exceptional circumstances, such as abuse, neglect, or situations where remaining with guardians is harmful to the child. Even then, strict legal safeguards apply.
If families are detained pending deportation, will children remain with them inside such centres? If children are separated from parents, under what legal authority and through which child welfare procedures? Will Child Welfare Committees under the Juvenile Justice Act be involved in every case? As of now, there is little clarity.
The absence of transparency is particularly troubling because detention itself has no clear legal framework concerning children under existing juvenile justice laws. Child Care Institutions established under the Juvenile Justice Act are designed for rehabilitation, care, and protection — not detention linked to immigration enforcement.
This concern is not new. In 2020, when questions were raised before the Supreme Court regarding children in detention centres, the then Attorney General K.K. Venugopal reportedly stated: “I cannot conceive of children being sent to detention centres, as of now.” Yet six years later, there is still no publicly articulated policy explaining how the Union or State governments intend to handle children affected by mass verification and deportation exercises.
Equally troubling are unresolved questions arising from citizenship laws themselves. Amendments linked to citizenship provisions over the decades have created categories that now require careful scrutiny.
Children born in India between January 26, 1950 and July 1, 1987 were recognised as citizens by birth. Those born between July 1, 1987 and December 3, 2004 qualified if one parent was an Indian citizen. For children born after December 3, 2004, citizenship depends on both parents being Indian citizens, or one parent being Indian while the other is not classified as an “illegal migrant.”
The legal and documentary burden involved in establishing such status can be overwhelming for poor and marginalised families, especially in border regions. Many individuals born after 2004 are now adults with jobs, marriages, and families of their own. If they are suddenly informed that they do not belong to the only country they have known, where exactly are they expected to go?
There is also little public clarity regarding bilateral arrangements with Bangladesh or Myanmar concerning deported persons whose nationality remains disputed. Will these countries automatically accept them? What rights will deported children enjoy there? How will identity disputes be resolved? These questions remain unanswered.
The larger issue, therefore, is not whether a sovereign state has the authority to regulate immigration. Every nation does. The issue is whether such enforcement can occur without violating constitutional protections, child rights obligations, and basic humanitarian principles.
Children cannot be reduced to administrative categories. A child born and raised in India, studying in local schools, speaking local languages, and growing up within Indian society cannot simply be treated as an undocumented statistic. Before any deportation process proceeds, the state must ensure due process, legal representation, child-sensitive procedures, and independent oversight.
Most importantly, no child should be rendered stateless.
The debate over migration often becomes politically charged, but the fate of children should concern every law-abiding citizen, irrespective of ideology. Nations are ultimately judged not merely by how they defend borders, but by how they protect the most vulnerable human beings standing at those borders.

Mr. AMOD K. KANTH                                                                                                

Founder and Mentor, Prayas JAC Society & Allied Organizations
Former DGP & Chairperson, Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) and Domestic
Workers Sector Skill Council ( DWSSC)

Amitabh Srivastava 

The authors are associated with Prayas, the well-known voluntary organisation which cares for the poor and destitute children
 

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