The Latvian State Border Guard has revealed that in recent months, there has been an increase in the number of third-country nationals who have tried to engage in illegal departures via Riga Airport.
Reports revealed that 26 asylum seekers had been using someone else’s or false documents to travel to other EU countries and were apprehended at the airport’s border inspection post.
The individuals
The Latvian Public Broadcaster reported that most of the individuals who were detained had been heading mainly to the Netherlands, Germany and France.
Furthermore, a number of asylum seekers tried to leave with only asylum seekers’ documents and had been identified in Latvia at the Schengen terminal.
The State Border Guard of Latvia disclosed that many third-country nationals who enter the country seeking asylum or illegally after they cross the Latvian-Belarusian State border do not intend to stay for long.
It was further explained that either they do so for humanitarian reasons, or use Latvia as a transit country for traveling to other Member States countries.
According to the data, a total of 39 asylum seekers who come from third-world countries are no longer at asylum centers.
The total number of similar cases that had been recorded last year by Latvian authorities had reached 1,529.
The measures
Passenger profiling will be increased by border guards at Riga airport’s Schengen terminal for preventing illegal state border crossings.
They will do the same at the sea ports of Ventspils and Riga, even though doing border checks at internal borders is not the norm.
Furthermore, immigration control measures will be implemented by authorities at internal borders. The Border Guard revealed that on January 17th, 21 individuals had been identified as violating borders.
This was applicable within the country as well as externally. A total of 9 trespassers had been detected at the external borders and two of them had not been allowed to enter Latvia.
The Latvian State Border Guard revealed that one citizen of Belarus and another of Lithuania had been banned from entering the Republic of Latvia due to security reasons.
This had occurred at the Paternieki and Terehova Border Control Points and the individuals had been sent back to their countries of departure.
More details
At the Terehova Border Control Point, a third individual had been identified with a lack of visa or a residence permit and hailing from Kyrgyzstan.
According to the authorities, the individual in question had to face administrative liabilities. As far as internal controls are concerned, a Russian and Estonian citizen was identified by authorities.
They were in violation of residence or entry condition. Five individuals had been stopped by the State Border Guard this year from illegally crossing the border.
Latvian authorities have recently taken a number of measures related to illegal immigration. They began sending letters to Russians last week asking them to meet the country.
It is because they did not meet the requirements for residency. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania had also announced the possibility of closing their borders with Russia last month.
