During immigration control measures carried out within the country on Thursday, eight individuals were found to have violated entry or residence regulations, the State Border Guard reported.
Those identified were two citizens of Eritrea, one from Russia, one from India, one from Kazakhstan, one from Syria, one from Ukraine, and one from Egypt.
Meanwhile, at border checkpoints, residence condition violations were detected in five foreign nationals. At the Pāternieki and Riga Airport border control points, two Belarusian citizens, one Azerbaijani, and one Uzbek were found without valid visas or had overstayed the permitted time in Schengen countries. Additionally, one Russian citizen was found without a valid travel document.
As reported, politicians from the National Alliance (NA), led by Riga Vice Mayor Edvards Ratnieks (NA), have proposed
tightening controls on illegal migrants in Riga.
Riga Municipal Police Chief Juris Lūkass emphasized that municipal police will not stop people on the streets or demand documents from tourists. Instead, inspections will focus on places where illegal migrants might gather and on individuals who may be residing illegally in Latvia.
At the same time, State Border Guard Chief Guntis Pujāts previously noted that Ratnieks is exaggerating the problem of illegal migrants in the capital.
Although Riga Municipal Police have detained 22 illegal migrants this year, Pujāts pointed out that this number is negligible compared to the number of migrants detained elsewhere in the country or those prevented by the Border Guard from crossing the Latvian-Belarusian border.
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