Prime Minister: the question is whether migrants who have entered Lithuania illegally will want to be here
During a press conference in the government on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said that there were still attempts to return foreigners who had entered Lithuania illegally to their country of origin.
“There are a lot of processes going on at the time: some people are being returned to their countries of origin, some people are returning. Of course, after the expiration of the terms during which they can be detained, they acquire a different status, ”I. Šimonytė noted.
According to her, the question arises whether the migrants themselves will want to integrate into Lithuanian society.
“As far as you can see, most people who, say, have the opportunity to move more freely, are trying to leave Lithuania and the environment somewhere else. But, I think that there is no shortage of people from other countries coming to our institute just to have a desire together, ”said the Prime Minister.
At present, there are up to 3 thousand people in Lithuania. Illegal migrants arrived in the country: There are 1,620 illegal migrants in the SBGS centers, and another 1,300 in refugee centers administered by the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, writes BNS.
According to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, illegal migrants who have been here for almost a year can be detained in refugee centers for another six months, restricting their freedom of movement, the SBGS chief said on Wednesday.
“If there are no amendments to the laws, decisions will be made on the decision of the court to detain them, or simply other decisions will be made on their naturalization and integration into Lithuanian society,” R. Liubajev told reporters in the Seimas.
He assured that efforts were being made to return migrants to their origins.
I.Šimonytė: we evaluate the probability of hybrid measures
On Wednesday, the head of the SBGS also warned that Russia could cause an influx of illegal migrants in the eastern countries of the European Union (EU) by retaliating for sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine.
The Prime Minister stated that Lithuania, having announced an emergency speech in the country, was ready for it.
“What is stated in the decisions on the state of emergency, basically these risks and values, and additional security measures at the external borders of the European Union are also related to those risks that we consider to be real for ourselves,” I. Šimonytė said.
From the very beginning of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Lithuania has assessed the probability of cyber attacks as well as the possibility that Russia will follow the example of Belarus and exploit illegal migration.
“From the beginning of the military invasion, the end of February, I said that in assessing Lithuania’s security security, we first of all assess the likelihood of various hybrid measures that Russia can take together with Belarus.
And among those topics in the Kremlin textbooks, we all know very well what they are: cyber attacks, attempts to create damage to, say, the use of IT infrastructure, the dissemination of information.
In the same way – illegal migration, which was tried by Aleksandras Lukashenko in the middle of last year and was basically not over yet “, I. Šimonytė named.
As a result, according to her, Lithuania has started to strengthen its external borders, and the institutions have been involved in the work in the conditions of the continuing emergency.