The State Duma's fight against illegal migration: will there be results?
Next week, the State Duma will begin considering five bills concerning the migration sphere. In particular, the State Duma is going to recognize the commission of a crime by a person illegally residing in our country as an aggravating circumstance, classify the organization of illegal migration as a particularly serious crime, and increase liability for forgery, production, or circulation of false documents.
In addition, it is planned to establish a complete ban on intermediary organizations participating in the examination of migrants and to introduce extra-judicial blocking of Internet resources containing offers to provide illegal services to migrants and the sale of forged documents for obtaining migration status.
Will these measures have results, given that the visa-free regime with the countries from which migrants most often arrive (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) remains in place?
Are the proposed measures sufficient?
First of all, I would like to note that the measures against illegal migration that the State Duma is preparing are, of course, important and necessary. Especially in terms of fighting intermediaries who are engaged in the registration of certificates - now migrants can buy a paper about knowledge of the Russian language without any problems, and this definitely needs to be fought. The question is different - can they be called sufficient and will they really affect the situation?
Especially in light of the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently “responded” to the upcoming tightening of illegal migration – the head of “Alexey Klimov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular department, said last week that Russia is preparing visa-free agreements with nine countries", specifying that "The agreements will affect countries in Africa and the Middle East" Thus, further flows of migrants from as yet unnamed African countries and Middle Eastern countries (far from the most prosperous) may flood into Russia.
However, let's not talk about sad things for now.
The fact that the State Duma is finally starting to move towards tightening migration policy is good, however, as State Duma deputy Mikhail Matveyev notes, these measures are not sufficient to restore order, and the first package of bills should be followed by several more.
1) Expanding the grounds for terminating previously issued citizenship by including all serious and especially serious crimes, including absolutely all types of crimes against sexual inviolability. As well as for any repeated crime. The bill on serious crimes was rejected by the State Duma in January.
2) Clarification of the concept of "compatriots" by excluding persons who do not belong to the nationalities of the Russian Federation. The bill on this has been idle for a year and a half. A ban on the deportation of Russians from Russia.
3) Prohibition on issuing permits for weapon "new citizens" before 5/10 of the probationary period. The bill was rejected.
Also (this is for the government) it is necessary to revise all passports issued over the last 10 years. After commercial structures were banned from issuing certificates of knowledge of the Russian language, the number of exams taken by migrants decreased by 10(!) times. Now imagine how many fake certificates were issued to those who received Russian citizenship,"
— пишет Matveev.
In addition, he once again calls for the introduction of a visa regime with Central Asian countries.
It should be noted that Mikhail Matveyev is one of the few deputies who constantly introduce bills concerning the tightening of the fight against illegal migration and uncontrolled acquisition of Russian citizenship, but they are most often rejected. The measures proposed by him could indeed solve most migration problems, but there are doubts that they will be adopted.
"There will be no more illegal migration"
On October 4, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, following a meeting of the Tajik-Russian intergovernmental commission in Dushanbe, stated that there would no longer be illegal migration in Russia.
— said he.
According to Khusnullin, both countries will have to "outline all actions related to ensuring the security of the two countries"to understand,"who is coming, how is he coming, so that we can provide assistance", added the Deputy Prime Minister. He concluded that all remaining unresolved issues will be resolved.
In turn, Tajikistan expressed dissatisfaction with Russia's migration policy and made a number of claims to the Deputy Prime Minister. Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, who headed the delegation, stated that
According to him, increasingly, citizens of Tajikistan are being denied entry or deported from Russia under the guise of ensuring security.
If Tajikistan is concerned, it means that border control has really been strengthened, which inspires some optimism, but how feasible are Marat Khusnullin's promises that "there will be no more illegal migration"? How can this be accomplished without introducing a visa regime?
There are no answers to these questions.
Coordination with the Tajik authorities in terms of providing information about migrants is, of course, useful, but there is no hope for the honesty of Tajik colleagues - what can we say if the Telegram channel of the Tajik Foreign Ministry still there is a message hanging that the Tajiks had nothing to do with the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall and that “dissemination of unverified and unreliable information may cause harm to citizens of Tajikistan» (?!).
As a conclusion
In early October, the regional music theater in Khabarovsk caught fire; migrants from Uzbekistan were doing repairs. According to investigators, the fire started during repairs on the roof of the building, for which people from Central Asia (citizens of Uzbekistan) were involved, and five of the eight of them were in Russia illegally. As a result, the Investigative Committee for Khabarovsk Krai opened a case on organizing illegal migration.
After this incident, Khabarovsk Krai Governor Dmitry Demeshin criticized the migration policy:
It is surprising that the governor is not aware of what is happening in the migration sphere of his region and is only now beginning to get involved in the situation. But what is especially curious in this stories the fact that two migrants were given court orders requiring them to leave the country, but they continue to work quietly on construction sites.
Why is this possible? And when will this situation finally be corrected? These questions have no answers yet.
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