<h1 class="ql-align-center">Transit Camps&nbsp;</h1> <h2>Context:</h2> <ul><li>The “detention centres” in Assam for foreigners have been renamed “transit camps” to humanise them.</li></ul> <h2>Detention Centres:</h2> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Detention centres&nbsp;are places designated to&nbsp;keep illegal migrants&nbsp;(people who have entered a country without necessary documents) once they are detected by the authorities.</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Detention centres were set up in Assam after the Union government authorized the state to do so under the provisions of&nbsp;the Foreigners’ Act, 1946&nbsp;and the Foreigners Order, 1948.</li></ul> <ul><li>Assam currently has such centres within the Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Jorhat, Kokrajhar, Silchar, and Tezpur central jails</li></ul> <h2>Foreigners’ Act, 1946:</h2> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">It&nbsp;replaced the Foreigners Act of 1940&nbsp;conferring wide powers to deal with all foreigners.</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">The act empowered the government to take such steps as are necessary to prevent illegal migrants including the use of force.</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Section 9 of the Foreigners Act says that “the onus of proving that such person is not a foreigner or is not a foreigner lies on the person.</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">The act originally empowered the government to establish tribunals that would have powers similar to those of a civil court.</li></ul> <ul><li>Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, and has empowered district magistrates in all States and Union Territories to set up tribunals (quasi-judicial bodies) to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not. Earlier, the powers to constitute tribunals were vested only with the Centre.</li></ul>