RIA Novosti, Russia
March 26 2007

Over 100 migrants seized in central Moscow – FMS
13:11 | 26/ 03/ 2007

MOSCOW, March 26 (RIA Novosti) – More than a hundred illegal migrant
workers have been detained in a police raid in central Moscow, the
Federal Migration Service said Monday.

"More than a hundred illegal foreigners were detained by police in a
flat in Moscow," the service said. "Most of them are from Armenia and
Kyrgyzstan, and are in breach of rules governing the stay of foreign
citizens in Russia".

This raid was part of a recent campaign to tackle illegal migration
in Russia, which is suffering from an illegal "migration boom" mainly
by those from former-Soviet republics arriving in Moscow and other
major cities in search of work.

According to the Federal Migration Service, over 20 million people
come to Russia every year and half are in the country illegally.

In January, Russia toughened its migration policy, reducing to 40% of
the total workforce the number of migrants allowed to work in
markets.

>From April 1, 2007, migrants will be banned from working in markets
entirely, a move designed to bring order to the sector and curb a
wave of ethnically motivated crimes in the country.

Some one and a half million civil cases were filed for violations of
migration laws in 2005, and approximately 57,000 illegal immigrants
were deported.