According to the political force he represents, a meeting of the Saeima Defense Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Commission will be convened next week on the current situation on the Belarusian border and the possible increase in illegal immigration and related issues.
It is planned that the Minister of the Interior Marija Golubeva (AP), the leadership of the State Border Guard and other institutions will be invited to the meeting of the commission in order to find timely solutions to prevent illegal immigration from Belarus, Rancāns revealed.
The problem is that the current measures, such as strengthening the border guard with additional patrols from the National Armed Forces, do not in principle prevent the entry of illegal immigrants into Latvia.
In fact, these patrols only detain the border crossers concerned, after which they have to be taken to accommodation centers and decided on what to do with them.
In Rancāns’ opinion, the massive accommodation, maintenance and further activities of these persons pose both security risks and high costs to the state, as well as may cause other types of problems that can currently be observed in Lithuania. He informed that currently the most advantageous route for these illegal immigrants to get to the European Union (EU) is the 500-kilometer-long Lithuanian border, which is closer to Minsk than the Latvian border.
“However, this is only until Lithuania finds solutions and physically closes its borders so that these illegal immigrants will not be able to enter there. If at that time Latvia has not built its own high-quality fence on the border with Belarus, will try to get to the EU through Latvia, creating relevant problems for our country, “the MP predicted, adding that, therefore, it is necessary to take active and decisive action to prevent such threats of mass illegal immigration in a timely manner.
The flow of illegal migrants across the Lithuanian-Belarusian border has been rising sharply recently. Since the beginning of this year, the total number of illegal immigrants apprehended has exceeded 3,500.
The majority of foreigners detained this year – 2,555 – are Iraqi citizens or pretend to be such, 191 migrants from Congo, 129 – from Cameroon, 124 from Syria, 91 from Iran, 80 from Russia, the rest have come from other countries. Most illegal migrants want to enter Western European countries through Lithuania.
Lithuanian officials believe that the Belarussian regime is deliberately facilitating the flow of migrants across the border.
Due to the migration crisis, a state of emergency has been declared in Lithuania.
