After visiting one of the firebreak rooms, the Iraqi collapsed: the money I have, I need to get out of this manure

There are still several stores outside, from which, oddly, the newcomers were in no rush to get out. When border guards prepared beds for all of them inside the firebreak, the migrants initially refused to go there because they thought that staying in the tents would be freed sooner.

After all, even the toughest ones broke this weekend after the cold snap and now everyone is already living inside the firewall. People from much warmer climates already said at the beginning of September that a green winter had begun, and since Saturday a white winter had already begun.

Raimondas Bučelis, head of the Švenčionys border firebreak, is happy that these and the last migrants are relocated elsewhere, and here the border guards will be able to carry out direct work and protect the state border. The firewall was never intended to become a home for newcomers, but it was flooded with so many that there was simply no other option.

The church came to the rescue

At first, when an unexpected influx of migrants flooded, it was difficult to cope, they had to use a toilet and eat rations of dry food. Now there is a container house with showers and toilets outside, and the municipality has taken care of hot meals.

While visiting Delfi on the Švenčionys firebreak, the local pastor Stanislavas Matiukevičius also arrives, bringing things donated by the parishioners: clothes, blankets, toilet paper. He visits here regularly with people from Carito, but is reluctant to talk about the help he provides.

“Good deeds must be done in silence,” the priest repeated several times, then hinted that even Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis had come to visit the migrants in silence.

Finally, the priest says that he works a lot with the local people so that they do not look hostile at the migrants, but rather try to help them.

“If we don’t do this, then we are not Christians,” says the pastor, adding. “There is a long way to go before they become us.”

Lack of entertainment for migrants

At noon, migrants are still not visible in the firebreak corridors, although they can walk here quite freely. When you enter a room, you are initially greeted by a strong smoking smell and sleepy glances from the beds; most of the migrants are still waking up.

“We go to bed at night, maybe 4 nights,” says a young Afghan with a smile, who came here with three friends, but now has one left.

He says that the family paid the agent for his trip to Europe, so he found himself in Lithuania.

“Maybe he would start a business or open a mobile device store,” he said, asking what he would like to do here.

The boy assures that he is only 17 years old, but then the border guards specify, the Department of Migration has already determined that he is at least 20. Many newcomers choose this tactic: they present themselves as teenagers and hope to be classified as vulnerable, therefore. obtaining better living conditions. However, his lies quickly become apparent as biological tests are conducted to determine the actual age.

The Afghan says that he was transferred to this room only a few days ago and that he had been in prison for some time before attempting to escape. The migrants call the prison a temporary detention center because there are bars, although they are open. The interlocutor tells all this with a laugh.

“Yes, it’s like an adventure here”, the boy answers my question, how seriously does he take everything.
He says that acting here is not much, he would like to have at least a gaming computer and a television, but he has to settle for cards or play blind man.

Does not hide anger

Still, not all migrants are so cheerful, another Iraqi they know says they have been here for months and they are going crazy, they still don’t have a phone and can only talk to the family for a few minutes.

The question of why he stays here and did not take advantage of the offer to get a plane ticket home and 300 euros infuriates the boy.

“It’s silly, they keep coming and offering it. I came here because I want a good life. I do not need money. I have money. But I need to get out of this manure, ”he says.

When asked how he got here and what his story is, he replies that it would take a long time to tell him, but he lifts his shirt and shows a large scar on his stomach.

“You see it here,” he says, complaining that the Migration Department specialists did not hear him normally during the asylum conversation.

Curious stories

As we speak to this Iraqi, another resident arrives and requests the services of a dentist. Border guards later said that once, with the help of a dentist, he began to systematically demand them over and over again.

You are probably thinking that we will repair your teeth with us. The doctors said that we would definitely give him first aid, but if we have to take care of our teeth, let them pay ”, say the border guards and assure that everyone here receives medical help.

Officers of all kinds of curious stories can tell a lot. For example, they recall a case in which migrants bought eggs and then saw a snake embedded there. They immediately dropped all the eggs, thinking that the snake had hatched from one of them.

Here, migrants tamed the cat, which now lies softly on the beds and became a resident of the firewall.

At 1 pm the migrants come for lunch, they receive hot soups and the second dish today is a cutlet with a garnish of rice and beets. They rush to collect food from the beds and smile in Lithuanian at the employees who brought it in.

A lawyer was found

At the same time, a lawyer representing the two migrants arrives at the firewall. It was found on the Internet by relatives of the newcomers, and later word of mouth about the aid spread.

“Those who are financially stronger can find a lawyer, but if they need state-guaranteed legal assistance, then it is more difficult,” he said.

According to the interlocutor, most of the migrants are not very wealthy, as life savings have been donated to travel to Europe.

“From what I can hear from the rumors, the families are selling homes for the trip. It costs at least 3 thousand to get here. EUR, maximum 12 thousand. Euros. They already have a lot of money, they say goodbye to everything they had on their land and they go to the bank, ”he says.

According to the lawyer, the migrants’ greatest wish is to free themselves from detention and live independently. The attorney helps fulfill this wish by contacting the Immigration Department. Our law stipulates that if a newcomer has enough money to rent an apartment and stay himself, he should not be detained and generally waiting for his asylum application to be processed.

“If it has its own funds, for whom it will eat the state budget, let it eat its own funds,” he says. “I have already helped, now one lives alone, waiting for an answer and that’s it.”

It is true that proving that you have money is not enough. Proof that you can indeed apply for asylum must also be provided. This is aided by documents about private business or police prosecution in the home country.