Several hundred asylum seekers have already “disappeared” in Lithuania

A few hundred illegal immigrants a day; We were used to that number until Tuesday this week, when the decision of the Minister of the Interior Agnė Bilotaitė came into force, allowing immigrants to be sent back to Belarus and not allowed in Lithuania.

56 new hires

Now these figures are ten times lower, however, the Migration Department has not felt a respite yet and will not feel it for some time, according to its director Evelina Gudzinskaitė.

“The internal crisis in the department is over, we have reoriented ourselves, established new procedures and work procedures. Last week we made selections for additional posts, we finished them, I am very happy about that for the first time. It is such an impressive thing.

Now new employees are coming, this week 9, even more next week, we are beginning to introduce them to the procedures. In total, we need to hire 56 new employees.

For us, that great impact is over, we are giving the details and taking another momentum, ”said E. Gudzinskaitė about the current situation in the Migration Department, whose specialists also examine asylum applications from illegal immigrants.

The internal crisis in the department is over, we have reoriented ourselves, established new procedures and work procedures.

According to her, it is now understood that it is “another reality”, with its own conditions and demands to which it has had to adapt.

“Black work is starting now,” he said.

No positive answers

There are currently more than a thousand asylum applications on the table, according to the director.

“So far, all the asylum applications that we have examined have not been satisfied by this wave,” said E. Gudzinskaitė.

The asylum application must be processed by the department within ten business days, but as the director says, this is not yet possible: “We process some applications from presentation to the department within four weeks. Some take longer: registration is stopped, the applicant may be isolated due to COVID-19 or have escaped and been returned.

From this wave, so far, all the asylum applications that we have examined have been unsatisfied.

For some, it also takes six weeks, but here, in some cases, the process has taken some time. “

When asked why the claims were not being honored, E. Gudzinskaitė did not hide: the people themselves are not willing to apply for asylum.

“They are simply formally requesting asylum, some point out for economic reasons. Others still come up with a reason to be persecuted by relatives, neighbors. But in reality, they don’t even plan to apply for asylum.

Of course, there may be people in that stream who should be granted asylum. There may be serious cases, but so far we have not seen any of the decisions we have made, ”said the department director.

Lie and disappear

He also emphasized that migrants are very reluctant to work with department staff, they are not telling the truth: “We believe what they tell us, we accept that story all the time when we begin to communicate. But then when we start to get more interested, it turns out that they are telling us the truth, they are not willing to cooperate. “

There are those who disappear, then they are returned, we examine again. We have about 200 interrupted requests that have come in now.

The department terminates the processing of some applications completely, in case the applicants themselves disappear.

“There are those who disappear, then they are returned, we go back to investigate. We have about 200 canceled applications that have come in now, ”confirmed E. Gudzinskaitė.

Usually these migrants then appear, as the director of the department says, “where they will disappear”: “They are registered in our systems, as well as in the European system. In any case, if they travel to Germany or any other country, sooner or later they will find them and return them to us. Then they will come back to us. “

Migrants who receive negative responses make decisions. Complaints first go back to the Immigration Department. According to its owner, last week 11 decisions were appealed, this time already 19.

According to the director of the department, the applications themselves are such that it is not difficult to understand why migrants do not want such asylum in Lithuania.

However, this does not mean that no one has received political asylum in Lithuania this year. According to the head of the Migration Department, 73 such applications have been granted since the beginning of the year, but all these applicants have entered Lithuania legally, applied for and had reasons to obtain asylum. Let’s say you come from Belarus.

I hope I am interested in getting your money back

When asked if there were already cases where migrants who entered Lithuania illegally were interested in receiving money and returning to their home country, E. Gudzinskaitė said that so far the procedure is only being prepared, coordinated and these procedures have not been implemented by border guards or immigration officials.

“But there is the International Organization for Migration, which is also running its own project on support for return, so they have some people who already take it seriously and are now undergoing technical procedures to get the return documents and buy tickets.

Such units already exist. Therefore, it can be assumed that when we provide more opportunities of this kind, more people will appear ”, is convinced E. Gudzinskaitė.

In addition, the climate is changing, the so-called Lithuanian summer that has now started has already caused dissatisfaction among migrants at the Rūdninkai landfill, when their tents got wet. Soon, as E. Gudzinskaitė says, “Lithuanian autumn, Lithuanian winter” will come, and then people who think and respect themselves will think again about what they are doing here.