Illegal Afghan Immigrants Must Leave Iran: Interior Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Undocumented Afghan immigrants should be expelled from Iran, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, criticizing the Taliban’s disregard for the problem that has been inflicted on Iran.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Vahidi emphasized the necessity of organizing the status and activities of Afghan immigrants in Iran.
While the community of Afghan migrants would naturally include a number of criminals in any country and although thousands of illegal immigrants have been imprisoned in Iran on various charges, it is necessary to prevent a phobia about Afghanistan, he stated.
The minister said Iran has so far deported 200,000 undocumented Afghan citizens, with a number of them having again returned to Iran illegally.
Deploring the Taliban caretaker government for failing to pay enough attention to the issue of illegal immigration into Iran, the interior minister said, “The illegal immigrants must leave the country. It is necessary to develop a stronger mechanism to act against the immigrants who return to Iran after being extradited to their country.”
In June 2022, the deputy interior minister for security and law enforcement estimated that there were around 4.5 million documented and illegal Afghans in Iran.
The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2021 triggered a huge influx of Afghans, many of whom have flocked to Iran, with which Afghanistan has 921 km of common land border.
