Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE government has announced a two-week operation for searching all suspected illegal immigrants across the country. Home affairs Minister, Mr George Simbachawene told Parliament yesterday that the operation, which is conducted by the immigration department and Police force, started on June 1, this year covering all regions.
Moreover, he reminded the public that having a National Identification Authority (NIDA) was not a guarantee that they should not be questioned on their origin when need arises.
He gave the clarification in Parliament here yesterday when responding to a supplementary question by Mr Assa Makanika (CCM Kigoma North) as to why the government is conducting patrol and inspection of citizenship even to people with NIDA identities.
However, he said, the government would question and when needed, conduct search and inspection to get details of place of origin of any person whose citizenship is in question.
The minister said in the past three months, the government had nabbed over 1,000 illegal immigrants and the exercise would be ongoing. Mr Simbachawene insisted that the government would keep on conducting such operations from now. He urged the public especially those living along borders to report on illegal immigrants movements.
The minister said the Immigration department would keep with its mission to facilitate and control movements of persons through implementation of relevant Laws and Regulations in order to safeguard national security and economic interests.
In ensuring smooth enforcement of the activities, the Immigration department has been undertaking a number of operations, patrols and search to deal with those who enter the country illegally.
Mr Simbachawene added that, following the move, those nabbed in the operations are interrogated accordingly to establish their place of origins. The operations, he said, are not only being taken in Kigoma region but in all regions.
