This is a bad news not only for the residents of Liepna in Alūksne region, but for Latvia as a whole. The fence has not been built, several dozen large groups of criminals enter the territory of Latvia every day. And the Ministry of the Interior plans to allow more migrants into Latvia. For the time being, most of the invaders are being captured with the help of the army, but some are finding ways to circumvent the migrant deterrence policies of the Baltic States and Poland. It is enough to have one juvenile in a group or a patient who has been forcibly pushed to the border. However, the intolerance of human trafficking declared by Western Europe does not work for migrants.
The barrels are not made of rubber
Due to humanitarian reasons, the persons admitted to Latvia and their numerous companions are transported to the village of Mucenieki in Pieriga, where an Asylum Seeker Accommodation Center is located and on the other side of the street – an Detention Center for Detained Foreigners. However, no one is charged with cross-border crime and the exploitation of minors in prison, there must be other crimes committed. Migrants are being systematically admitted into the country, justified by the state of emergency declared at the border last summer. Of course, the capacity of the Barrels is not inexhaustible. If you do not sit on each other’s lap – a place for 400 people. At one point last year, so many were detained in the migrant country that real and legal Latvian asylum seekers had to be placed in the recreation center of the Ministry of the Interior in Jurmala. The further course of the hybrid operation between Belarus and Russia is also unpredictable. At present, the number of migrants repelled per day does not exceed a hundred, and since the declaration of the state of emergency, border guards have been ordered to admit about a hundred “humanitarian reasons”, ie within six months. But if hundreds and thousands come to the Latvian border at the same time, as happened in Poland, then more migrants will have to be admitted.
250 migrants per 600 population
The European Commission, the Parliament and the other institutions of the European Union are in favor of migration and have been pursuing an open door policy for a long time. It is not known how long Latvia and other countries affected by the migrant attack will be allowed to pursue an exclusionary strategy, which in practice means the capture and expulsion of migrants who have entered our country and return to the territory of Belarus. Brussels believes that this is not humane. The pandemic is also affecting the reception of migrants, forcing them to provide more housing.
The sum of all these circumstances and considerations is the need for new and habitable premises for migrants – in Liepāja Parish, Alūksne District.
The border town has a population of around 600, and in the autumn, when the old boarding house is renovated and set up for uninvited guests, they will gather up to 250 migrants, their exploited victims, possibly Islamic radicals. National special services have repeatedly warned of this possibility. However, the Ministry of the Interior reassures: “Like the Asylum Seekers ‘Accommodation Center“ Mucenieki ”, the new asylum seekers’ accommodation branch will be fenced and guarded around the clock. If necessary, the Board will co-operate with the State Police for the maintenance of public order. ” However, it should also be recalled that the residents of the asylum center are not considered criminals and, according to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs: Asylum seekers staying in the PMIC “Mucenieki” have the right to move freely in the center . ” Thus, they will also be able to live in Liepna Parish at their own discretion, unless a new regulation is adopted or due to a certain quarantine pandemic.
Locals concerned about security
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Although the transformation of the parish into a migrant center promises new jobs for the local population – on-duty officers, drivers and support staff will be needed, but many people in the parish are reluctant. Ilze Paia, the head of the Liepna Parish Department, estimates that it will be halved. Half of them support this idea, half do not. But the population has not been consulted. The Ministry requested information on vacant suitable premises from local governments, Alūksne Municipality sent an offer, and the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs acknowledged that it was quite good. And so it is – if Latvian children could live in the building that had not been renovated for years, why should migrants not live in the state bread after an expensive “Euro renovation”. Thus, at the extraordinary meeting of Alūksne County Council, a decision was made to transfer part of the municipal property – the former boarding school boarding school building, auxiliary building and a part of the land plot in the area of 0.66 ha – to the State Collateral Agency for free for four years.
Only peaceful “engineers” promised
The municipality benefits from the entry of a new state institution and the public it manages into the parish, as they will not have to worry about using the huge building for at least these four years. Previously, it was offered to neighborhood entrepreneurs, but no one even wanted to do anything about it for free, because adapting to production would require too much investment. As for the population’s concerns about security and the epidemiological situation, the parish can only rely on the ministry’s promises that no such real criminal elements will be brought here, only peaceful “engineers” and “architects”. Security services and border guards will have identified their identities. And they will also be medically tested for any new diseases. In addition, they will be taken to Liepna only when “Mucenieki” is crowded. From an economic point of view, of course, this would not be reasonable – Liepna is right next to the eastern border, Riga much further away. Renovate the house and then keep it empty.
However, it is not possible to know how everything will happen in reality. And also how the relations between the people of the parish and migrants will develop – no. “We do not have such experience,” admits the head of the parish administration. It is expected that the first experience in the management of migrants admitted to Latvia will be gained by Alūksne municipality, Liepna parish and its residents not earlier than in September, with the completion of the renovation of the building. However, everything may change, because the flow of illegal people across the Latvian border depends not only on the humanitarian considerations and favor of the Ministry of the Interior.
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