The story so far: The fresh wave of deportation and detention drives targeting undocumented migrants from Bangladesh in several States, including West Bengal, have brought deportation laws to the spotlight. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on June 7 said that 4,800 “illegal infiltrators” have been deported to Bangladesh over the past one month. Mr. Adhikari said that “holding centres” have been set up in border districts of the State. He had earlier said that the policy of his government regarding “illegal infiltrators” was to “detect, delete and deport”.The Gujarat police also detained 362 undocumented Bangladeshi migrants and questioned more than 782 suspected foreign nationals during a State-wide crackdown under “Operation Delta Hunt” launched on June 2, 2026.According to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Union government had constituted a high-level committee on demographic change and was committed to “identifying and deporting every single infiltrator from the country.” These events, along with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s advocacy of a “pushback” policy for undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar, including Rohingyas, have drawn attention on issues of deportation and refugee rights.What is a pushback?Deportation is a formal legal process that typically involves detention, judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings, and coordination with the receiving country’s authorities. In contrast, Pushbacks generally refer to the return of individuals across a border outside the formal deportation process and without the procedural steps ordinarily associated with deportation. Originally,“pushbacks” is a term from European and American border enforcement, implying someone caught mid-crossing and returned.The term “pushback” does not have a statutory definition in Indian law. However, recent government policy by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) distinguishes between formal deportation proceedings and the immediate “send back” of Bangladeshi or Myanmarese nationals intercepted at the border. The legality of such pushbacks remains contested, particularly where questions arise regarding nationality verification and procedural safeguards.