The Modi government’s decision earlier this month to construct a fence along the international border between India and Myanmar and scrap the existing free movement access for people living on the border villagers have received mixed reactions from the northeast. While the Manipur government and the people of the valley have welcomed New Delhi’s move as a way to keep out illegal foreigners from coming to the state, the tribals living in the hill areas are unhappy. So are the people of Mizoram. Free movement up to 16 km on each side of the border was allowed so that people divided by artificial colonial boundaries by the colonial rulers, would preserve the cultural, ethnic, and sometimes familial connections of border residents.