By: Yasmin Pascual Khalil
“Foreigners will be kept in the detention centre until their parent country takes them back,” Manohar Parrikar, Goa’s Chief Minister, said whilst announcing the creation of the centre on August 6th. Goa entertains many international and domestic tourists every year for its beaches, places of worship, and world heritage architecture. The popular coastal spot has been seen as a refuge to many foreigners, who according to Parrikar, avoid deportation by destroying their passports.
“The illegally staying foreigners are taking advantage of the (gap) in the current laws,” Parrikar added. They destroy their documents before being taken into custody to make it hard to track down their citizenship; leading them to continue to stay in the state under the guise of ‘fighting their court case’ since the Indian law does not allow deportation of foreigners who are on bail or in jail. The Chief Minister believes the detention centre, which is expected to be ready for use within two to three months, will help tackle this problem.
