On Monday, an Algerian official said that his country has allocated $20 million to manage immigration, in particular in response to recent pressure on its southern borders.

In an interview with the government radio station, the director of immigration at the Algerian interior ministry, Hassan Qasimi, said

The government has allocated $20 million to face the waves of illegal immigrants who are flowing towards the southern borders on a daily basis and threatening the Algerian security and stability.

He clarified that the decision was made by the government on 29 March, “and during which important decisions have been taken to secure the Algerian southern borders and to provide human possibilities to take care of immigrants who are fleeing their countries for social or other reasons.”

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Qasimi went on, “Algeria receives an average of 500 immigrants a day on the southern borders, especially in the two provinces of Adrar and Tamanrasset which border Niger and Mali, with the help of smuggling networks.”

He explained that in 2016, the municipality of Bordj El Houasse, in Illizi Province, near the Libyan borders, had witnessed “the flow of 7,000 illegal immigrants, which exceeded its population of 6,000 people, thus threatening the social structure of the country.”

Since mid-2014, Algeria has started, in stages, the deportation of African immigrants from Niger and Mali in particular, in coordination with the two countries’ authorities.

A few days ago, Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said that his country would continue deporting African illegal immigrants in consultation with their home countries and explained that this is a matter of “national security” and “public order”.