The Police and Border Guard Board has detained two groups of illegal migrants in recent months, most recently on Sunday evening.
Overall, the PPA has detained 83 migrant groups in Estonia since mid-summer, and 352 individual illegal migrants since July 21, amid heightened migratory pressure on the Belarus-EU border.
In both reported cases in Nõmme, the PPA acted on neighbor tip-offs, as well as in other cases close to the nearby Tallinn University of Technology.
Rainis Sinikas, head of the PPA North Prefecture's border and migration supervision department, noted that the detained migrants are spread across different districts. It is largely Nõmme's character, he said, that makes detentions more likely for those accommodated there.
As a leafy suburb on the southern outskirts of the capital, Nõmme is a place where local residents tend to recognize each other by sight, Sinikas said. Outsiders, still more so those of a different ethnic background from the majority, tend to stand out more than they might in more central areas of Tallinn.
"The point of detention is largely connected to where migrants live. Through a trafficker, they find accommodation somewhere in a Tallinn district. Since Nõmme is a small garden suburb where many neighbors know each other, a number of people of another nationality attracts attention," Sinikas said.
"In the city center, people moving around during rush hour may not be noticed. But in a small garden suburb, far more attention is paid to who is moving around, and so more reports come in," he continued.
Sunday evening's operation in Nõmme began when residents reported what they said were two dark-skinned men outside a building. The men appeared not to be familiar with the area.
PPA officials went to the scene and detained both men. Checks revealed they were Sudanese nationals staying in Estonia illegally. During conversations, it emerged that several other illegal migrants were hiding in the area. Police then launched a search involving patrols, service dogs and the Rescue Board.
This led to eight additional men, also of Sudanese origin, being apprehended. They had been hiding in wooded areas.
"Generally the practice has been that running away and abandoning belongings doesn't happen very often, but this time it did," Sinikas said.
In the July case, it emerged that migrants had congregated at a short-term rental building. The PPA is still establishing the circumstances of Sunday's incident.
"In practically every case we establish whether they have already stayed overnight in Estonia. If they have, we check the accommodation or apartment used as short-term let. We also establish their route in detail: how many came in and where they came from. Through continuous and consistent procedural steps, we establish their background and whether we can apprehend more migrants at that address. Practice has shown that sometimes we do," Sinikas added.
October has so far seen no let-up for the PPA in detaining migrant groups, mainly in Tallinn but also in Pärnu and central Estonia.
On Monday, the PPA detained a group of seven illegal migrants in the city center. Migratory pressure is likely to continue and possibly rise ahead of winter, the PPA said.
The PPA says it receives constant tip-offs about possible illegal migrants. Sinikas denied that tip-offs had been primarily race-based. Actions and behavior stand out, he said — and even dirty clothing in the autumn weather.
"Since the weather is muddy, many of the detained groups get muddy too," Sinikas said.
Not only the PPA but other agencies are coming under heavy pressure. Over 250 people are now in the Tallinn detention center. The courts are overworked too, since detaining people is a legal process, on top of sentencing human traffickers caught in Estonia.
"The situation is difficult and could turn into a crisis situation. Various institutions, including administrative courts and local governments, are overloaded. We order interpretation and our entire network of cooperation partners is under great strain," Sinikas said.
The situation is complicated by the fact that different nationalities are placed in the detention center together, which has led to conflicts.
"It doesn't take much — there have been disagreements and pushing, even over a TV remote. So far we have managed to prevent and avert larger conflicts, but there are still such scuffles and quarrels," Sinikas said.
Sunday's group consisted of Sudanese nationals. The group apprehended Monday in central Tallinn were Somalis. "There are a lot of Bangladeshi, but also Pakistani and Afghan citizens. The circle is quite wide, and people from Ethiopia and Eritrea have also been detained," Sinikas said.
Regardless of country of origin, the migrants mostly arrive in Estonia from Belarus via Latvia, which it borders. They then make their way northwards.
Processing the return of one migrant usually takes over a month, including establishing that they did indeed cross the border illegally from another state. Estonia has so far sent 105 migrants back to Latvia.
The migrants themselves have said during proceedings that their intended destination was a western EU country, for instance Finland, Germany or Spain.
Sinikas said that while some have stated a desire to remain in Estonia, it is not clear whether this is their genuine wish or a script they have been taught.
That "also has to be established during proceedings," Sinikas noted.
Interior Minister Igor Taro (Eesti 200) discussed the Belarus-backed migration pressure on Latvia's border with his Polish counterpart Marcin Kierwiński at the ongoing Warsaw Security Forum. Taro said the migratory pressure should be treated as an attack on the whole EU, and that escalation must carry a cost beyond the existing sanctions on Minsk.
"All our allies are ready to support Latvia, just as we have previously stood alongside Poland and Lithuania. Responsibility lies entirely with the Belarusian regime, which supports and incites illegal border crossings and contributes to damage to Latvia's border infrastructure," Taro said.
Taro is set to take part in a panel discussion on Tuesday about government resilience in the era of hybrid attacks.
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