Critics say Lithuania should keep Migration Dept amid migration problems

“Monitoring and analysis of migration and legal status of foreigners is becoming an increasingly important challenge, and the tendency will continue,” professor Tomas Janeliūnas of the Vilnius University’s International Relations and Political Science Institute told BNS.

In his words, the Migration Department should get more attention and have its internal control stepped up, and transfer of functions to the police and the border service will not solve any problems.

Arvydas Anušauskas, conservative member of the parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee, says that “placement of all civilian functions in police commissariats is not a good practice.”

“Many countries around the globe have institutions that control processes of legal migration. Even if the ruling parties decide to eliminate the department, the ministry will not escape from regulating the processes, as it will need to shape policies, and policies are formed by the ministry via the department,” Anušauskas told BNS.

Earlier on Tuesday, Misiūnas, the interior minister, to abolish the country’s Migration Department, which has been under criticism lately, and transfer its functions to the police.

The ministry said a central migration unit would be set up within the Police Department to structurally combine the existing territorial police migration units in Lithuanian counties.

Under the plan, the structure would cover migration implementation processes related to citizenship issues, identity documents, residence permits, migration control, visa issuance and asylum applications.