Thread: Putin: Crackdown needed on illegal immigration to Russia

detroitnews.com
By Mansur Mirovalev
Associated Press
January 26, 2012 at 9:47 am


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting on migration issues in Moscow. Putin offered measures to curb illegal labor migration in Russia amid growing xenophobia and tensions between Russians and dark-skinned labor migrants from Central Asia and Russia's Caucasus region.

Moscow — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday that government officials must crack down on migrant workers who break the nation's laws by failing to register or get work permits, and on companies that profit by hiring them.

Putin, who is campaigning for Russia's March presidential election, was addressing an issue that angers many Russians because Moscow is overrun with immigrants who often sleep in basements and overcrowded apartments.

Some 10 million labor migrants, mostly from ex-Soviet Central Asia, flock to Russia visa-free annually. Many face abuses, low pay and enslavement, while their presence triggers xenophobia and hate attacks in a country where unemployment stood at about 7 percent last year.

Violent xenophobic groups have flourished in Russia over the past two decades. Their members kill and beat non-Slavs and anti-racism activists and crudely denounce the influx of immigrants from Central Asia and Russia's Caucasus. Some Russians and nationalist politicians have accused the immigrants of stealing jobs and forming ethnic gangs.

Putin, who is expected to win the presidential election, said Thursday that people who violate immigration and labor laws should be barred from entering the country for up to 10 years.

He also said that Russians who profit by hiring and enslaving migrants, or by issuing fake work and residential permits, should face criminal charges instead of "symbolic fines."

"We need to toughen sanctions against those who hire people without permits, basically as defenseless slaves," Putin said in televised remarks addressing immigration officials.

He said that of the nearly 10 million foreigners now in Russia only 4 million work legally.

Ethnic Russians comprise two thirds of the country's population of 142 million, but their birth dates are plummeting. The remaining third of Russia's population are mostly from predominantly Muslim Caucasus.

Putin: Crackdown needed on illegal immigration to Russia | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

It's rumored that Detroit has sent an invitation to the illegal immigrants to come there instead. Putin balks at paying for their transportation, suggests Detroit pay the tab.

(Sarcasm)

Even Vladamir Putin knows Illegal Immigration is a problem!