Thousands of foreigners may be living in Finland illegally, suggests ministry official

print this

“It is possible that there are thousands of illegal immigrants in Finland”, says Esko Ruokonen, Inspector General of the Police at the Ministry of the Interior Police Department.
      “In connection with crime investigations, for one, we often encounter individuals who have been living here for quite some time without permission”, Ruokonen adds.
      Many such people have arrived in Finland legally, but have then exceeded their length of stay, thus becoming illegal residents. Most such individuals live in the Helsinki area, the police estimate.
     
Helsingin Sanomat reported on Tuesday that police in Helsinki and Vantaa intend to step up the inspections of foreigners’ residence permits, with a view to weeding out illegals. Police officers are making spot checks in places where foreigners typically gather, including shopping malls, railway stations, and harbours.
      The Helsinki Police chief of staff Teuvo Saikkonen and Vantaa chief of police Yrjö Laihio emphasise that such check-ups are part of normal police activities based on lawful criteria.
      “We have the Ministry of the Interior instructions on the surveillance of Finland’s foreign population, and we go by them. Not everyone who is foreign or who is speaking a foreign language will be subjected to inspection”, Laihio stresses.
     
According to Saikkonen, “the idea is not to create some sort of police raid system”, and nobody will be picked for inspection randomly.
      “The EU legislation related to Schengen states that the police are allowed to perform spot checks inside the country’s borders”, Saikkonen points out.
     
“When the Schengen area widened at the beginning of the year, and the checking of passports at the Helsinki Harbour all but ended completely, the only tool that remains for monitoring the legality of the residence status of the foreigners in the country is random inspections by the police”, Saikkonen says.
      Inspector General of the Police Esko Ruokonen explains that the Ministry of the Interior Police Department is not going to issue separate instructions on how to carry out the random inspections of those of foreign extraction.
      “The monitoring should happen in accordance with the basic principles of policing.”
      Ruokonen adds that in any case the need for monitoring has increased. “Free movement has its downsides. The movement of criminals also becomes easier.”

More on this subject:
 EDITORIAL: Foreigners must be able to trust police

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minorities Ombudsman critical of police checks on foreigners´ ID documents (12.3.2008)
  Helsinki and Vantaa police spot-checking foreigners without residence permits (11.3.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat