Although illegal migrants flee Lithuania, some of them are sent back
It was clear from the beginning that the goal of illegal migrants who crossed the border of Lithuania was Germany, the LNK report says.
“I saw in the media that people are coming here. I thought the border had opened, I took advantage of the opportunity,” says one of the illegal migrants.
As could be expected, after receiving the right to move freely through the country, most of the migrants fled from Lithuania.
“They have no right to leave Lithuania. They are given, let’s say, freedom of movement, but only within the territory of Lithuania. As they violate that regulation, it is given to them,” explained Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arnoldas Abramavičius.
In 2022, the Migration Department received 4 thousand requests regarding the return of foreigners who have fled Lithuania back to Lithuania.
The entire LNK report is in the video:
“From Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands,” said the director of the migration department, Evelina Gudzinskaitė.
According to the European Union document, also known as the “Dublin Agreement”, migrants become the responsibility of the country where asylum is first sought.
They have no right to leave Lithuania.
It is true that inquiries are not only about illegal migrants who arrived through Belarus, but also about those foreigners who legally apply for asylum. Without receiving a final decision, they disappeared from Lithuania.
“This month, out of those foreigners who were already returned to us according to the Dublin Agreement, four were returned, of which only one was the one who illegally crossed the border of Belarus”, explained E. Gudzinskaitė.
Of the four migrants who arrived in Lithuania, now a little more than 400 remain in the country. The Ministry of the Interior does not think that all migrants should be sent back.
“Part of them will probably reach Lithuania, although, on the other hand, the numbers do not show any increase yet. According to statistics, 53 persons were returned to Lithuania under the Dublin Regulation in 2021,” said A. Abramavičius.
“If we take the statistics of all asylum seekers, the number of those returned per year is between five and thirteen percent. of all those who wanted to be returned”, E. Gudzinskaitė testified.
Whether to return a foreigner to another country is decided only by various assessments.
“The foreigner should be physically picked up, put on the plane and flown to that first country,” E. Gudzinskaitė taught.
Germany adheres to the principle of family unity.
“It is possible that the foreigner came through Lithuania, but most of his family – the nuclear family – applied for asylum, for example, in Germany,” said E. Gudzinskaitė.
In this case, the foreigner could have stayed in Germany, and anyway, migrants to Lithuania can appeal the solution to the problem. Then the processes can again take more than a year.
“Could, say, the conditions of presence and the time be used as an argument?” Yes, it could be used as an argument, but it is unlikely, in my opinion, that the extradition procedures would be refused for that reason only,” argued lawyer Karolis Merkevičius.
If the migrant is nevertheless returned to Lithuania, no one tries to return him to the country of origin, but does not prevent him from submitting an asylum request again. Since the restrictions on movement in the country are not usually applied in such cases, he can flee to Europe again, and then history repeats itself.
“Whether they left Lithuania, whether their traces appear in Germany, France, whether they will stay there or not, Lithuania is committed for five years to take measures to return to the country of origin,” A. Abramavičius returns.
in 2022 56 persons returned to Lithuania applied for asylum, but left the country. Asylum in Lithuania was granted to only two illegal migrants in 2022, while a total of 141 foreigners received asylum since the beginning of the migrant crisis.