All news

Moscow needs 2,000-capacity detention center for illegal migrants

Existing facilities have room for only 400 people, which doesn't meet law-enforcement authorities' needs

MOSCOW, October 15 (Itar-Tass) - A new detention centre for immigrants facing deportation is needed in Moscow, Olga Kirillova, head of the Federal Migration Service's operation in the Russian capital, told a State Duma parliamentary hearing on Tuesday.

Existing facilities had room for only 400 people, which did not meet law-enforcement authorities' needs, she said. "We wrote a letter to the city’s mayor asking him to create another centre for at least 2,000 people. The city authorities completely support our position but we would like to accelerate the process,” Kirillova said, adding that “The problems of Moscow region are being transferred to the territory of Moscow and almost double the incoming flows of migrants who currently obtain their work permits in Moscow.”

Foreign nationals facing deportation were held in temporary detention centers, which was why the number of places should be significantly increased, she said. Lack of facilities was "the main reason that prevents us from working properly”.

Kirillova said Moscow’s Biryulyovo neighborhood, rocked over recent days by some of the worst ethnically-fuelled rioting in years after the killing of an ethnic Russian allegedly by a Muslim migrant from the Caucasus, differed little from other city districts with industrial and trading facilities employing foreign labor.

“Biryulyovo vegetable warehouse has been systematically checked by regular and riot police considering the large size of the market,” she said. Several violations had been detected and about 30 individuals detained during each raid alongside fines for administrators there.