Children's migration room

The Moscow City Duma approved a mechanism for expelling beggars with babies

The approaching spring has put Moscow City Duma deputies in a lyrical mood and made them remember the most precious thing in every person's life - children. And even about strangers. Fearing that with the onset of warm weather, beggars with many children from neighboring countries will again flock to Moscow, parliamentarians yesterday adopted a city law on the procedure for the administrative expulsion of foreign citizens with children. At the same time, the capital's deputies introduced a bill to the State Duma allowing the constituent entities of the federation to independently determine the procedure for keeping citizens subject to deportation along with minors.

Speaking to deputies, Deputy Head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate Vladimir Popov explained the need to adopt the law by saying that today internal affairs bodies do not have the right to place citizens with children in special detention centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Until now, children of foreign citizens detained for violating the rules of stay and begging were sent to medical institutions because, as a rule, they had health problems and needed medical care. But it was impossible to remove them from the streets for a long time - according to Mr. Popov, the courts refuse to accept cases of deportation of foreign citizens with children, so the maximum that such beggars could face was a fine for improper performance of parental responsibilities. This situation has led to the fact that children have become not only a means of earning income, but also a safe-conduct for Tajiks, Gypsies and other representatives of the mendicant international who work at crossroads and in subway passages. A bill submitted to the Moscow Duma, which was the result of lengthy negotiations between the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the migration service and the Moscow social protection system, envisages the creation in the city of special institutions to hold foreign citizens awaiting deportation along with their children.

In a conversation with a Vremya Novostey correspondent, Olga Gracheva, deputy head of the mayor’s department for social protection, explained that the institutions being created will be under the jurisdiction of the city’s social services, and all the necessary conditions for caring for young children will be created there. The first social hotel with 25 beds has already opened. In Moscow, however, about one and a half thousand foreign citizens are detained annually for violating the rules of stay and begging, but representatives of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate believe that 25 places for “family beggars” will be enough for the first time. The police reminded that no one was going to house the detainees there for a long time. A court decision on administrative expulsion is made within 48 hours, and stay in a special detention center or social hotel is limited to three days, during which the detainee is bought a ticket and sent home.

When adopting the law, the deputies showed rare unanimity - even the opposition voted for the document. The decisive argument that persuaded legislators to approve the law was the promise of the deputy head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate to find out the identity of each minor and the degree of his relationship with those detained for begging. In addition, Mr. Popov explained, until now foreigners expelled from Moscow often found themselves back on the capital's streets. If expelled by a court decision, they lose the right to re-cross the state border of our country.

Alexander GUDKOV