That illegal immigration is a potent threat to the Naga people is a foregone conclusion. Illegal immigration is a concern across the world, which is why countries have legal frameworks governing who may enter, reside and work within their territories.
But in Nagaland, the real difficulty is not identifying the threat of illegal immigration, but establishing who actually qualifies as an illegal immigrant.
The question becomes particularly difficult when a person suspected of being an illegal immigrant possesses documents that appear to establish a legitimate identity. Aadhaar and EPIC cards are not, by themselves, proof of citizenship. Yet their possession can give an individual the appearance of being a legitimate Indian resident and enable access to services and opportunities ordinarily available to citizens or lawful residents.
There are also confirmed reports from different parts of India of people of dubious origin procuring such documents through fraudulent means. This raises an obvious concern for Nagaland. If a person of questionable origin has acquired Aadhaar, EPIC or other official documents through dubious means, does possession of those documents make that person a legal immigrant? Clearly, a document cannot by itself erase the circumstances under which it was obtained.
This is the central difficulty in confronting illegal immigration. An anti-illegal immigration campaign can create awareness and encourage people to be vigilant. But simply asking society to identify illegal immigrants will not be enough when those individuals may already possess documents that make them appear legitimate.
The fight against illegal immigration may focus only on what is visible, while leaving untouched the documents that make people of doubtful origin appear to be legitimate residents.
An anti-illegal immigration campaign could even backfire if persons of dubious origin, against whom the campaign is directed, already possess seemingly legitimate documents. In the absence of a mechanism to establish the authenticity and legal basis of those documents, the campaign could inadvertently reinforce the documentary legitimacy of the very “illegal immigrants” it seeks to identify.