Another 35 of the illegal migrants who have arrived in Latvia from Belarus have either already left for their country of origin or will soon return, as reported by the vice-chief of the State Border Guard Ivars Ruskulis told Latvian Saeima’s Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee on Wednesday, 25 November.
Some of the arrivals have requested asylum in Latvia. Others are in the process of being deported from the country. 35 persons have requested to be returned to their home country. 25 of them have already left. Another ten are awaiting departure.
Ruskulis also said the State Border Guard prevents 20-25 people from illegally crossing the Latvian-Belarusian border.
In Latvia the Office of Migration and Citizenship Affairs (PMLP) is the institutions in charge of provision of asylum. The institution reports that there are 200 requests under review at the moment.
As of November 2021 alternative status has been provided to 24 people and refugee status has been provided to 65 people. Most often these statuses are provided to citizens of Belarus and Afghanistan.
BNN previously reported that even before the influx of illegal migrants this summer there were several dozen Belarusian citizens requesting asylum in Latvia.
There are 152 people staying at Mucenieki centre for refugees. Currently this centre’s capacity is sufficient as up to 400 can stay there at all times.
Life at Mucenieki centre is calm and no incidents have been observed there so far.
As a result of hybrid attacks, which many believe were orchestrated by Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime, thousands of illegal migrants have been trying to enter Latvia, Lithuania and Poland lately. Most of those people arrived to Belarus as tourists from Iraq.
Europe accuses Minsk of attempts to take revenge for supporting Belarusian opposition and the sanctions imposed on Belarus in response to the regime’s violent repressions against protests last year.
Latvia sends multiple illegal migrants back to their country of origin
