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Riga, Nov 14 (LETA) - During the crack-down on illegal migration in Riga, 16 illegal migrants have been caught, Riga Vice Mayor Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance) told at a press conference today.

Four migrants were from Uzbekistan, three from Ethiopia, three from Russia, two from India and one from Algeria, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Senegal each,

Thus, a total of 38 persons who had no legal grounds to stay in Latvia were caught, which is 65 percent more than in 2024. Of them, 23 persons illegally crossed the Latvian border, five persons did not have residence permits, in three cases they were detained by the Border Guard, in three cases they were internationally wanted, and in four cases they had lost or had no legal residence status.

Ratnieks said that the aim is to achieve a situation where there are no illegal migrants in Riga.

He stressed that legal migration was an even bigger problem. Therefore, it is planned to continue the raids that have been launched and to continue work on curbing legal migration.

In order to do this, he said, first, the proportion of third-country students should be significantly reduced; second, strict rules should be introduced on knowledge of the national language in the service sector; third, the "gates" to family reunification should not be allowed to open.

Girts Lapins (National Alliance), head of the Riga City Council committee on security, public order and corruption prevention, sees systematic problems in the area of immigration control. There is a significant increase in immigrants' interest in Latvia, but there is insufficient control in the country, he said.

The number of residence permits issued to persons from India and Uzbekistan has increased significantly over the past five years, Lapins said. The increase has roughly doubled. 5,689 permits have been issued to persons from India and 4,219 to persons from Uzbekistan. 61 percent of the permits issued to Indians were study visas, while 62 percent of the permits issued to persons from Uzbekistan were work visas.

The deputy head of the Saeima National Security Committee, Janis Dombrava (National Alliance), plans to soon propose the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the problems in national and European Union (EU) level immigration regulation and the work of executive institutions, which have allegedly led to the massive entry and stay of third-country nationals in Latvia.

"The parliamentary commission would provide answers as to whether the issuance and control of residence permits is currently being sufficiently strictly and effectively supervised by the state, as well as whether far-seeing measures are being taken to avoid the situation in Western countries where the consequences of too permissive migration are a threat to national security," Dombrava said.

Dombrava has already secured the necessary support from MPs to set up a new parliamentary commission of inquiry.

As reported, at the end of September, the National Alliance politicians launched measures to detect illegal migrants in Riga.

Ratnieks previously promised that this would not be a one-day action, but regular and systematic work. He called on the citizens of Riga who have information or suspicions about gathering places of illegal migrants to report them to the Riga Municipal Police.

Guntis Pujats, head of the State Border Guard, said earlier that Ratnieks was exaggerating the problem of illegal migrants in the capital.

Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs (Progressives) has previously stated that illegal immigration is not a priority for the Riga Municipal Police and no additional resources will be allocated to it. The municipal police, the State Security Service and the Ministry of the Interior already routinely carry out checks and take care of security, said Kleinbergs, who has also made no secret of his skepticism about the measures initiated by the National Alliance.

Juris Lukass, chief of the Riga Municipal Police, has also stressed that the municipal police will not catch people on the streets and will not ask tourists for documents. Instead, they will check places where illegal migrants might gather and check persons who might be staying in Latvia illegally, he explained.