Garda crackdown on illegal immigrants under fire

A GARDA crackdown on illegal immigrants that involved hundreds of officers and thousands of man hours has been criticised by refugee support groups.

More than 600 officers were involved in tracking down 89 illegal immigrants during Operation Hyphen last July.

A total of 140 people were arrested following the clampdown on immigrants evading deportation orders.

However, gardaí arrested only 16 asylum seekers who had been served with deportation papers. Another 73 people held by gardaí had never applied to the Department of Justice for asylum status and were living in the country illegally. Many of the immigrants in this category live secret lives and the majority of them are in

full-time employment. More than 50 immigrants arrested by gardaí were legal residents and were later released. The chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council (IRC), Peter O’Mahony, yesterday criticised the high number of gardaí working on Operation Hyphen.

The council is not disputing the State’s right to deport people, but Mr O’Mahony said the high-profile Garda swoops were unjustified.

“If you look at the amount of resources used, I think that this exercise was ill-judged and entirely inappropriate.

“The use of 600 gardaí to find just 16 deportees is unjustifiable,” he said.

A Garda spokesperson confirmed last night that Hyphen is an ongoing operation. The gardaí also rejected the IRC’s criticism, describing it as “insulting.”

“This operation has worked successfully and large numbers of gardaí are needed, because it’s a complicated process,” said the spokesman. Justice

Minister Michael McDowell has denied the initiative is part of a get- tough policy on asylum seekers. The IRC disputes the Garda figure that there are 2,500 immigrants, who have been served with deportation orders, still living in the country.

The positive contribution made by gardaí who have worked with asylum seekers over last number of years has now been damaged, Mr O’Mahony said. The operation was headed up by the National Immigration Bureau, who were joined by officers from Garda divisions throughout country.

Already this year, staff numbers have been increased at the Garda National Immigration Bureau. It’s estimated that in the region of 100,000 immigrants are legally entitled to live in the country. The numbers seeking asylum status is about 9,000 annually.