RIGA, Aug 20 (LETA) - Riga Vice Mayor Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance) clearly exaggerates the problem of illegal migrants in the Latvian capital, State Border Guard Chief Guntis Pujats told LETA.

Although 22 illegal migrants have been detained by the Riga municipal police this year, Pujats said that this is a tiny fraction of the number of migrants detained elsewhere in the country or prevented from crossing into Latvia from Belarus.

"The number of such people this year is about 9,000, and these 22 people in Riga represent only 0.2 percent. Of the 9,000 people, 200 have been detained inside the country. The rest are people who have been detained near the border or who have been stopped from entering Latvia from Belarus. Most of these people are from Somalia and Afghanistan," said Pujats, adding that illegal immigration pressure by hostile neighboring countries continues on the Latvian-Belarusian border.

The State Border Guard in collaboration with other law enforcement authorities, the State Labor Inspectorate and the State Revenue Service regularly organizes raids to clamp down on illegal migration. If the local government of Riga plans to increase its contribution to these efforts, this is a welcome step, said Pujats.

Pujats believes, though, that politicians from the National Alliance are clearly exaggerating the migrant issue. The border guard chief noted that there are many foreigners living in Riga, "99 percent of whom have entered the country legally" and are staying in the country legally. This could give the impression of an allegedly increasing number of illegal migrants, the border guard chief said.

"For example, there was a controversy in Riga about food couriers, but checks found only two who had no right to stay in Latvia and they were detained," Pujats said.

According to the border guard chief, the number of Uzbek citizens who have been denied entry by border guards remains high. Entry is refused because the purpose of the potential stay is not met, or because the Uzbeks often claim to be working as truck drivers but are found to have forged driving licences.

Commenting on the claim made by Girts Lapins (National Alliance), chair of the Riga City Council Security, Public Order and Anti-Corruption Committee, that education is the "biggest hole" through which legal migrants enter Latvia in a questionable way, Pujats pointed indicated that the country has been exporting higher education for years, and that these people have entered Latvia legally.

As reported, Riga Vice Mayor Edvards Ratnieks of the National Alliance said at a news conference on Tuesday that he is urging illegal immigrants to leave Riga and Latvia in a month. Migration was one of the issues highlighted by the National Alliance in its campaign in the runup to this year's municipal elections.

Ratnieks said he felt that residents of Riga had started feeling less safe on the streets of the Latvian capital amid rising illegal migration. While previously illegal immigrants came mainly from Central Asia, this year the number of illegal immigrants from African countries has been on the rise.

The politician promised that in a month - at the end of September - the Riga Municipal Police will launch extensive raids to detect illegal migrants.