Edvards Ratnieks, Deputy Mayor of Riga representing the National Alliance (NA), announced at a press conference today that he is calling on illegal immigrants to leave Riga and Latvia within a month. Migration was one of the issues highlighted by NA during its last municipal election campaign.
Ratnieks noted that residents of Riga have started to feel less safe in the city’s streets due to growing illegal migration. While previously illegal immigrants mostly came from Central Asia, this year the number of illegal migrants from African countries has increased.
The politician referred to the experience of other European countries, such as Sweden and France, which he said shows that crime rates can rise very quickly due to migration. “We must act actively in the name of future security,” Ratnieks explained.
THE POLITICIAN PROMISED THAT IN A MONTH – BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER – THE RIGA MUNICIPAL POLICE WILL LAUNCH WIDESPREAD RAIDS TO IDENTIFY ILLEGAL MIGRANTS.
As explained by the Chief of the Municipal Police, Juris Lūkass, if a municipal police officer identifies a person without a legal residence permit in Latvia, that person is handed over to the State Police or the Border Guard.
He reported that of the 22 illegal migrants detained this year, 15 were from African countries. These individuals, having entered the country from Belarus or Russia, had been brought to Riga and left there. Based on their appearance and behavior, these people seem disoriented in their surroundings and seek contact with similar individuals.
Since the beginning of this year, Riga Municipal Police have detained and handed over 22 people to the State Border Guard – an average of fewer than three persons per month. Last year, 23 people were detained, and in 2023 – 24 people. This year, the majority of those detained without residence permits in Riga have been from Sudan and Ethiopia.
Ģirts Lapiņš (NA), Chairman of the Riga City Council Committee on Security, Order and Corruption Prevention, announced at the press conference that
work will also be done to “narrow legal immigration.”
As an example, he noted that obtaining a permanent residence permit requires knowledge of the Latvian language, but obtaining a temporary residence permit does not.
Therefore, the National Alliance, through its representatives in the Saeima (where the party is in opposition), plans to propose legal amendments requiring that, in order to extend a temporary residence permit after one year of living in Latvia, applicants must pass a state language exam.
In his view, the “biggest loophole” through which questionable legal migrants enter Latvia is education. To study at Latvian universities, students receive temporary residence permits, which allow them to legally enter the country. However, only about 10% of these students graduate. As a result, universities “earn millions” from a system that enables migrants to come to Latvia, Lapiņš argued. This issue has been discussed in the Saeima, where representatives of universities have acknowledged certain problems but denied that the trend is on a large scale.
After the press conference, Lapiņš told news agency LETA that he obtained this data from the TV3 program Nekā personīga (“Nothing Personal”). At the beginning of this year, Nekā personīga reported that its compiled data on student flows since 2022 show that, on average,
about 10,500 foreign nationals study in Latvia each year, but only about 1,400 graduate.
Lapiņš has committed to proposing quotas for universities regarding the admission of foreign students from non-EU countries. In his view, it should not be the case that a university admits 10,000 students who are not EU citizens.
Meanwhile, commenting on the information about raids to detect illegal migrants, Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs (P) told LETA that the task of the Riga Municipal Police is to maintain order in the city in cooperation with other competent institutions. Any increased control in a specific area must be carefully considered – for example, as happens before the start of the school year, when the police pay special attention to traffic safety near schools.
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