“THE IMMIGRATION Department’s arbitrary actions and other excesses have been well-documented over the years. The ombudswoman, deputies, immigrant support groups and the media have reported countless cases of the department’s heavy handedness and systematic abuses of power; there was even a public falling out between a former interior minister and the head of the department, over the handling of specific cases.
But none of this has changed the Department. Abuse of power remains its modus operandi and it continues to consider calls for accountability with disdain. The Department is a law unto itself, recognising no rights to immigrants, denying them information and often deporting them without following proper procedures. It continues to behave in this authoritarian way because it can crush its disenfranchised victims with impunity.
No government or political party is willing to censure the Department because they do not want to be perceived by the public of being soft on immigration. There has always been hostility towards immigrants, but it has become more acute with soaring unemployment, many people complaining that illegal immigrants and asylum seekers were taking Cypriot jobs. In this climate, no politicians would dare say anything critical of the Immigration Department, which is fully aware of this.”
Read full article on the Cyprus Mail website here: http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/02/19/our-view-immigration-department-appears-to-be-accountable-to-no-one/
