Number of Illegal Migrants Surges at Tallinn Detention Center
The flow of illegal migrants crossing from Belarus through Latvia into Estonia has increased sharply in recent days, nearly filling Tallinn's detention center. Most of those detained who arrived via Latvia are set to be sent back there.
In recent days, an increasing number of illegal migrants have been crossing into Estonia from Belarus via Latvia, nearly filling the Tallinn detention center and leading to more frequent conflicts among those held there.
Since late July, Estonian police have detained nearly 300 people who entered the country illegally from Belarus through Latvia. Recently, a growing share of those detained are citizens of African countries — Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia — though their identities are often difficult to establish. Indrek Aru, head of the border guard bureau at the Põhja prefecture, said more than half of detainees lie about their gender, age, date of birth, or country of origin, apparently believing this helps them exploit the system.
For most of these people, Estonia is not the final destination but a transit country on the way to Scandinavia or other parts of Europe. Nevertheless, after detention they are placed in the Tallinn detention center, where the number of occupants has risen sharply. Police have sent additional personnel there to maintain order.
Aru said no major ethnic conflicts have been observed, but everyday disputes have become more frequent — for instance, disagreements over which TV channel to watch or attempts to cut in line for food. So far, officers have managed to resolve conflicts peacefully, though the workload on staff has grown considerably.
The burden has also increased at the Tallinn Administrative Court, which is handling hundreds of petitions, since placing a detainee in the detention center requires a court ruling in each case. Judge Maret Hallikmaa said that on a recent Sunday she went to the detention center with two court clerks to decide on the detention of twenty people, leaving home around ten in the morning and returning only after the evening news broadcast.
Many detainees try to apply for refugee status in Estonia, but most of those who arrived via Latvia are being sent back there. Liis Valk, head of a bureau at the Police Department, explained that an asylum claim must be examined by the first European country the person entered — in this case Latvia, which fulfills its obligations under the rules, though the procedure takes several weeks. Estonian police have recently returned nearly a hundred migrants to Latvia, with several more expulsion operations planned this week.
