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ordered the establishment of “holding centres” for “apprehended foreigners”, including Bangladeshis and Rohingya, fuelling anxiety among the state’s roughly 35 million Muslims.

“We have been asked to leave immediately, or the government will take stern action,” said Hasina, 45, who worked at construction sites in Kolkata after entering India six years ago.

“We came to this city in search of a job. Now we want to return to Bangladesh, (but) we don’t know what is waiting for us there,” she said.

Her husband tried feeding their child scraps of leftover bread as families huddled in an unfinished building near the outpost, some without proper food for days.

The sudden influx followed word spreading among migrant communities that crossing into Bangladesh was possible from Hakimpur, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Kolkata.

India shares a long and porous border with Bangladesh, where migration has historically been driven by economic hardship and longstanding family links.

In Indian states that border Bangladesh, like West Bengal and Assam, undocumented migrants have formed an integral part of the informal workforce for years.

But activists say hundreds have been pushed across the border from Assam in recent months without due legal process, often based on ethnic profiling.