ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 23, 2004 Tuesday

Group of illegal immigrants to be deported from Russian Far East

By Marina Shatilova

VLADIVOSTOK

Over 30 illegal immigrants, most of them citizens of the People’s
Republic of China will be deported from the Russian Far-Eastern
Maritime territory shortly as part of a special operation codenamed
Illegal Immigrant, press officials at the territorial administration
said.

The operation began a mere three days ago, and yet it has helped
expose hundreds of people who broke Russia’s immigration laws.

The press officials said inspections had embraced 120 enterprises
that hired foreign workers, as well as more than 1,200 foreigners
having jobs here.

In about 400, encroachments on the foreign citizens sojourn
regulations were exposed.

Another goal of the operation is to identift the foreigners who
illegally get jobs in the Maritime territory.

Sources at the interior department here say over 16,000 foreigners
were brought to responsibility for different offences last year
alone. Most of them were holders of Chinese, Azerbaijani and Armenian
passports.

Of that number, 120 people were detained for criminal offences and
700 more, for getting illegal jobs.