Moscow wants to deport all unemployed migrants

Moscow authorities have moved to legalize the deportation of all unemployed foreigners residing in the city.

Speaking on the TVC channel late on Tuesday, deputy mayor of Moscow Yuri Roslyak said the policy towards migrants in Russia should be toughened.

“If a migrant loses his job and stays in Moscow unemployed, he should be deported,” Roslyak said.

He admitted, however, that the initiative of the Moscow city authorities has not yet been approved by the federal government.

Moscow is flooded with labor migrants from ex-Soviet republics, doing a variety of unqualified jobs all over the city. Most janitors, construction workers and taxi drivers in the city are foreigners.

Up to 90 percent of Russians think the labor migrants should be “thrown out”, a recent poll has shown. In the wake of the financial crisis, Russians’ negative attitude towards foreigners is getting even worse, making socially insecure labor migrants easy targets for aggression.