As reported in a publication by Die Presse, even if illegal immigrants can be expelled, this often does not have a lasting effect. Many return to Austria again, others try to obstruct their deportation in every possible way.
Police officers from the migration department like to tell the following story: once an illegal foreigner from Africa was caught. As a result of a complex investigation, migration police experts found that he was from Nigeria. When he was taken to the Nigerian ambassador, he entered barefoot and explained that the police had taken his shoes - an insult to the customs of his country and an insult to the ambassador. The ambassador throws the police officers out along with the illegal immigrant. Then, after lengthy arguments, the embassy agrees to send the detainee home. The migration police charter a flight and send him to Nigeria. There, immediately upon arrival, he files a complaint, claiming that he is from Sierra Leone, not Nigeria. Accordingly, Nigerian border guards do not let him into the country, and the police officers, along with 'their' foreigner, are forced to return to Vienna. And this is not an isolated case, says Wiedermann.
The situation is even more difficult with Asians, especially Chinese. Wiedermann says: "They usually do not apply for asylum, but disappear into the black labor market, and if we catch one of them, they do not say a word. This drags on for weeks until we find out where they come from."
"We deport some people five times. Illegal workers simply put up with one or two weeks of detention - even then they earn significantly more than at home," said Stefan Stortetzky, head of Vienna's migration police. If an illegal immigrant is caught, he faces only a fine of 100 or 150 euros, Stortetzky says. Illegal presence in the country is not a criminal offense. Although previous measures, such as one-month detention, also did not scare anyone.
According to Stortetzky, the biggest problem is illegal workers from Eastern Europe, mainly Romanians. Although their number is decreasing: in 2002, 4,639 Romanian citizens were detained who were in Austria illegally. In 2001, there were 7,449. Among illegal immigrants, Romanians rank second after refugees from crisis regions, such as Afghanistan in 2001 or Iraq in 2002. Other Eastern European countries - Ukraine, Russia, and Bulgaria - do not make it into the top ten. Among the states whose citizens lead in the number of asylum applications, none of these countries are present.
The main task, say Wiedermann and Stortetzky in unison, is the fight against those who provide work to illegal immigrants: "If this market did not exist, we would have significantly fewer illegal foreigners."