No foreigner can be expelled at the Czech airports at once

(CTK) – Foreigners must not be expelled at Czech airports immediately, on the basis of the ombudsman’s opinion. The ombudsman criticised the order on immediate expulsion and therefore the foreigner police must not apply it any longer. A decision on expulsion must be always issued in regular administrative proceedings.

The ombudsman primarily pointed out that foreigners cannot defend themselves against an immediate expulsion and were not sufficiently informed on the procedure.

The Ombudsman’s Office has monitored the decisions of expulsion since January 2011. The ombudsman found out  that out of 286 decisions on expulsion issued by the Prague-Ruzyne Foreigner Police Inspectorate from January to November 2011, they were made in administrative proceedings in 68 cases only, while 218 foreigners were expelled immediately on the spot. In ombudsman’s opinion the foreigner police thereby violated domestic and international regulations and commitments.

The ombudsman reminded the foreigner police of their wrong practice. However, he succeeded only after the intervention of the interior minister who secured that the foreigner police had terminated this unlawful procedure. No foreigner can be expelled from the Czech Republic at airports at once from now on.

The most frequent reason for an administrative expulsion was the foreigners’ stay in the Czech Republic as part of the Schengen area after their visa or residence permit expired. Foreigners are most often expelled at airports if the Czech Republic serves them as a transit country between another EU member state and third country. The highest number of foreigners expelled from the Czech Republic during the monitored period came from Armenia, Russia and Ukraine.