Less petty crime among illegal immigrants

The Immigration Service and the police organised a Gaudi campaign together for the third time from 5 December to 31 January. Again, the objective was: giving priority to arresting offenders, such as pickpockets and shoplifters, among illegal immigrants and repatriating them. “There used to be a feeling of total impunity among offending illegal immigrants. Prosecution was not a priority, let alone repatriation,” says State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken. “Our three Gaudi campaigns have put an end to that.”

“Our resolute approach is working,” Theo Francken concludes. “In 2014, just 694 offending illegal immigrants were detained in a closed centre. In 2015, that number increased to 1,020: an increase of almost 50%. Out of those persons, over three quarters were indeed removed from Belgian territory. By prioritising their repatriation, we are now seeing a significant decrease for the first time in so-called petty crime, but which in practice causes a lot of disruption. Because repeat offences are high among offending illegal immigrants, repatriations are an effective means of fighting crime.”

The situation is positive after three campaigns: the number of thefts has decreased significantly in a year’s time in all participating cities: in Antwerp by a third, and in Brussels, Ghent and Liège by a fifth. The number of offenders that are staying in the country illegally has decreased by a fifth in one year’s time, and the number of pickpockets has decreased by almost a whole quarter.

Collaboration is the key to success

The Gaudi campaigns are supported by intensive collaboration between the Immigration Service, the police services and the prosecutor’s offices, participating city councils and organisations of self-employed people. “This also allows us to achieve excellent results,” Theo Francken says. “The fact that more and more cities are joining Gaudi also proves its success. So we will definitely continue down this road in future.”