There is an ongoing crisis of despair involving migrants from abroad who are seeking refuge in one of the world’s longest-standing, post-World War II democracies—India. There are roughly 4.9 million noncitizen migrants in India, with most coming from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Because these migrants often live in the shadows, they are frequently deprived of fundamental human rights. On the one hand, it may seem surprising that this population remains so vulnerable. After all, India’s Supreme Court has been a leading institutional light in safeguarding the rights of many marginalized groups. Supreme courts in other countries point to judgments from the Indian Supreme Court as a model for how to ensure that communities on the periphery are treated with dignity and due process. Furthermore, the Indian judiciary has been assisted in its progressive rights jurisprudence by a robust constitution and a vibrant civil society.Yet when it comes to noncitizen migrants, there has been a dearth of sustained judicial support. Additionally, while there is certain, important, bottom-up activism on behalf of these noncitizens, it has frankly not been enough to meet the cascade of needs that exist. This project focuses on how institutional inadequacies, at both the governmental and societal levels, have left noncitizen migrants among some of the most isolated individuals within India. Namely, the absence of specialized and independent immigration courts, an outdated immigration statute, a lack of a strong immigration legal profession, insufficient legal education on immigration law, and little research on immigration doctrine are key reasons why migrants face such dire circumstances today. Otherwise put, India’s weak immigration infrastructure has sadly contributed to the difficulties noncitizen migrants face in accessing lawyers, the legal process, and,ultimately,justice within Indian society.
