After spending several years in Lithuania, Abe was among seven people earmarked for deportation back to Nigeria. Despite others fleeing long before, he had attempted to build his life here. “I didn't run away – I could have, but I didn't because I believed in the Lithuanian migration system, in justice, in truth,” he said in an interview with LRT.lt. “Now they make us believe that those who escaped were smarter.”
Abe (name changed) arrived in Lithuania in July 2021. Since then, he has found an apartment in Kaunas, got a job in a pizzeria and learned Lithuanian – Abe and I speak half in Lithuanian, half in English.
He was one among thousands who entered Lithuania irregularly via Belarus after the Minsk regime opened a migration corridor, hoping to plunge the Baltic states and the European Union into chaos.
Read more: Migration crisis in Baltics and Poland
“I came here from Nigeria, I am an asylum seeker. Nigeria is not safe for me. [...] So I came here – I was looking for a safe place, I applied for asylum in 2021, but my asylum application was rejected. Like everyone else's,” Abe told LRT.lt.
In the early morning of February 8, Abe and six other Nigerian citizens were scheduled to be deported back to Nigeria, but the deportation was delayed due to an aircraft malfunction, as the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) spokesperson Andrius Jarackas told LRT.lt.
At present, the border guards do not know when the deportation will finally take place.
“I am not a terrorist, I am not a criminal, I just want to live in peace. I wake up every day, I watch the news about my community and I cry because people are still being killed and the government cannot protect them. (...) People are being killed, beheaded, women are being raped,” Abe said about the situation in Nigeria.
He was 17 years old when he arrived in Lithuania. He recalls that the Migration Department argued that his documents were fake, that he was 23 years old, and his asylum application was rejected.
In May 2021, his village was attacked by a terrorist group.
“These people attacked villages and mostly killed Christians. My mother, my sister and I heard the sound of gunshots, so we ran away. I managed to escape into the woods, but unfortunately, my mother and sister did not. We spent the whole night in the bush. They set fire to the house and my mother and sister were killed,” Abe said.
According to him, the Lithuanian Migration Department said that his documents were not genuine and that it was safe in Nigeria.
“This is not true. [...] I fear for my life. I have been living in Lithuania for about two years, I have friends and family here, I found a job in a pizzeria, I make pizzas, and I like to cook. Next month I plan to enrol in a vocational school, and I'm taking my time and learning Lithuanian because I want to live here,” Abe said.
“I could have run away, but I didn't. Everybody ran away, but I like Lithuania very much and I want to live here. I found a job, I have not broken any law and I will never break any law,” he added. “I want to live here, but they don't give me that option.”
According to Abe, almost all the migrants who entered Lithuania during the migration crisis in 2021 fled.
“But I am here, I didn't run away – I could have, but I didn't, because I believed in Lithuania's migration system, in justice, in truth. Now they make us believe that those who fled were smarter,” Abe said.
Night-time deportations
Emilija Švobaitė, a volunteer at Sienos Grupė NGO, says the deportations to the countries of origin are a “possible abuse of state authorities”. This would have been not the first time that Nigerian citizens were forcibly deported to Nigeria.
“The last deportation seemed very unfair, because even though the decision was taken during the day, they received the Migration Department's decision just before the flight, in the evening, when it was impossible to get any help from other institutions. The night deportations look like [...] a clandestine operation,” Švobaitė told LRT.lt.
Read more: Migrant rights group stages protest against asylum seekers’ deportation at Vilnius Airport
According to the volunteer, what is most lacking is honest monitoring – one NGO can do it, but the reports are not public and available to the public.
According to her, the process lacks transparency.
“There are a lot of questions, not only about the moral and humanitarian aspects, but also about the legality of the actions,” Švobaitė said.
The Migration Department previously handed out deportation orders immediately before the flight, preventing the deportees from filing appeals. Now, the notices were given several days before the flight, which was still not enough to challenge the decision in Lithuania’s courts.
“This completely violates people's right to a fair hearing, to a fair trial,” Švobaitė said.
Rokas Pukinskas, the chief adviser of the Migration Department, told LRT.lt that the asylum seekers “entered Lithuania illegally, they have not been granted asylum, even twice, so their stay in Lithuania is illegal and they have no right to obtain residence permits in Lithuania”.
“Neither international law nor Lithuanian law gives foreigners the right to reside in the country of their choice. To reside in Lithuania, foreigners have to arrive legally and obtain a national visa or residence permit,” Pukinskas said.
According to the Migration Department, if a person enters the country irregularly and applies for asylum in Lithuania, but does not receive it, he or she must leave the country.
“The foreigners in question have not been granted asylum in Lithuania and are therefore obliged to leave the country. They have refused to leave Lithuania of their own free will and must therefore be deported. Expulsion is a complicated procedure, the people do not cooperate with the expulsion services, so the process takes time,” said Pukinskas.
During this time, they are given the right to work in Lithuania.
“However, the Migration Department stresses that such tolerance in no way legitimises their stay in the country and does not change the fact that they are in Lithuania illegally and have to leave the country,” Pukinskas added.
He also said people can challenge negative decisions on their asylum claims both in Lithuania and in a foreign country, “because the state provides them with free legal aid”.
He rejected criticism surrounding night-time deportations, saying the timetable depends on the company organising the flights.
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