Published 11 February 2024 at 16.19
Foreign. About 20,000 illegal Afghan immigrants in Iran have been detained and sent back to their homeland by Iranian security forces in the past two weeks, Afghan authorities told Iran Front Page.
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Iranian General Majid Shoja confirmed the information on Saturday.
– In the past 15 days, the border guards of the Taibad Border Regiment have repatriated 20,000 Afghan citizens who had entered Iran through the Dogharun border. They were handed over to representatives of Afghan authorities, he said.
The commander said that Afghan refugees can enter Iran legally, otherwise they will be arrested and sent back to Afghanistan.
Official figures show that the number of Afghan immigrants in Iran is around five million, a large majority of them illegal.
Deportations to Afghanistan were effectively halted by Sweden in October 2023, although no formal enforcement freeze was introduced.< /p>
According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the situation in Afghanistan has changed so much that virtually everyone who has an enforceable deportation order must be granted a new trial if they request it.
At the same time, the government has invested in something called for “voluntary remigration” to, among other places, Afghanistan. It is currently not scientifically proven that the phenomenon exists, but the Swedish Migration Agency produced an information sheet on the matter in the autumn, in accordance with the government's regulation letter for 2023.