Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs (Progressives) has pledged to closely monitor how effective Riga Municipal Police involvement will be in raids against illegal immigration in the capital, he said in an interview with TV3’s program 900 Seconds.
The mayor reiterated that the primary task of the municipal police in Riga is to maintain public order and traffic safety on the streets, especially with the start of the new school year. They can also participate in various raids alongside other services, including combating illegal immigration, “but this certainly cannot happen at the expense of human rights,” the politician added.
He expressed the view that Deputy Mayor Edvards Ratnieks’ (National Alliance) statements last week about fighting illegal immigration in Riga are part of his political agenda. According to Kleinbergs, the situation with illegal immigration in Riga is not perfect, but it is also not nearly as dire as Ratnieks’ statements suggested.
Therefore, Kleinbergs has committed to strictly overseeing the municipal police’s involvement in raids against illegal migration and assessing their effectiveness.
As reported, Deputy Mayor Ratnieks, representing the National Alliance, said at a press conference last week that he was calling on illegal immigrants to leave Riga and Latvia within a month.
Migration was one of the issues highlighted by NA in its most recent municipal election campaign.
Ratnieks argued that residents of Riga are starting to feel less safe on the streets due to rising illegal immigration. While previously most illegal immigrants were from Central Asia, this year there has been an increase in migrants from African countries.
The politician cited the experience of other European countries, such as Sweden and France, as examples showing that crime rates can worsen rapidly due to migration. “We must act decisively in the name of future security,” Ratnieks said.
He promised that after a month – by the end of September – the Riga Municipal Police would begin large-scale raids to identify illegal migrants.
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