Preventing illegal entry and exit in border areas

Push back illegal immigration

Na Ngoi Border Guard Station (Ky Son) manages a 16.552 km long border section, with 19 villages and hamlets, with 1,014 households/6,043 people, including 3 ethnic groups: Mong, Thai, Kho Mu. People's lives face many difficulties, mainly farming, low education level, limited awareness of law enforcement; violations of border area regulations and illegal migration to Laos still occur frequently.

Therefore, in recent years, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station has actively coordinated with local Party committees and authorities to promote propaganda, dissemination, and raise awareness and legal consciousness for people. The main content focuses on the Border Law, the Agreement on national border regulations between the two governments of Vietnam and Laos, Decree No. 34/2014/ND-CP on regulations for land border areas, Directive No. 01/CT-TTg on "Organizing a mass movement to participate in protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security in the new situation" associated with the project to disseminate laws to officials and people in border areas for the period 2022-2027.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Hoa - Political Commissar of Na Ngoi Border Post: Due to the large area, large population, some villages are 12-16 km from the commune center such as Pu Quac, Huoi Thum, Tham Hon, and difficult roads, so the work of staying close to the people and the area to carry out oral propaganda is still the main task. The post focuses on selecting propaganda officers who are capable of mobilizing the masses, understand customs and practices, and know the language of the people. At the same time, promote the role of "Skilled Mass Mobilization" of border guards to strengthen the position of Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the border commune; 4 border guard party members temporarily participate in Party activities at village party cells in key and complicated areas; 32 border guard party members are in charge of 145 households in the border area. In 2023, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station coordinated with local Party committees and authorities to organize 37 live propaganda sessions/2,079 listeners, propaganda on the commune and village radio system 449 sessions/152 hours; organized hours to disseminate and educate about laws and border regulations for 4 classes/160 9th grade students in the area.

The Na Ngoi Border Guard Station also flexibly applied mass mobilization work. In 2023, the station coordinated with the team of village elders, village chiefs, and prestigious people to successfully mobilize 4 households/18 people in Huoi Xai village to give up the intention of migrating to Laos. In addition, to help people stabilize their lives, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station effectively implemented many models to help people develop the economy, such as the wet rice farming model in Huoi Thum and Pu Kha 1 villages, growing clean vegetables in Huoi Thum village, and raising fish in Keo Bac village.

Talking to us, Secretary of Pu Kha 1 Village Party Cell Vu Ba Tong said: Thanks to the support, propaganda and mobilization of the border guards, people's lives have gradually stabilized. In the past few years, the village has no more free migrants.

Not only in Pu Kha 1 village but also in the entire Na Ngoi commune, people's awareness of complying with border regulations and the Border Law has gradually improved, and illegal migration has decreased. In 2023, in this commune, there was only 1 household/6 people in Huoi Xai village who migrated to Laos in April, that is the household of Gia Ba Re (born in 1988) and Xong Y Rong (born in 1985) with 4 children.

Nghe An has 468,281 km of land border, 27 communes in 6 border districts of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Que Phong bordering 3 provinces of Bolikhamxay, Xieng Khouang, Hua Phan of Laos.

The lives of people in the land border areas still face many difficulties, the rate of poor and near-poor households is high; the educational level is low. A part of the people, mainly Mong people, take advantage of their family relationships on both sides of the border to often cross the border to migrate to Laos to get married, live or apply for exit procedures to Laos and then stay illegally.

To promptly prevent illegal migration in the border areas of the province, units under the Nghe An Border Guard focus on innovating the forms and measures of propaganda and education suitable to the situation and conditions of each subject and each area; at the same time, deploying the construction and replication of many effective models such as the model of "Propaganda and dissemination of border laws for 9th grade students" in secondary schools in border areas, border area lesson models, border bulletins... in common languages ​​and ethnic languages. In addition, promoting the role of village elders and prestigious people to participate in propaganda and explain to people about the consequences of illegal migration abroad.

In 2022, Nghe An Border Guard discovered and persuaded 11 households/54 Mong people (a decrease of 5 households/27 people compared to 2021) to give up the intention of illegally migrating to Laos; in 2023, discovered and persuaded 4 households/18 Mong people in Ky Son district to give up the intention of migrating to Laos (a decrease of 2 households/8 people compared to 2022).

In addition, the Nghe An Border Guard Command also proactively coordinated with functional forces of Laos to deploy measures to prevent illegal migration occurring in the border area between Nghe An and the provinces of Hua Phan, Xieng Khouang and Bolikhamxay.

Thanks to synchronous solutions, illegal migration in border areas has been gradually prevented and pushed back. In 2023, in the area managed by Nghe An Border Guard, there were only 2 households/12 people migrating to Laos; 1 household/9 Mong people voluntarily repatriated from Laos (a decrease of 2 households/8 people) compared to 2022.

Prevent illegal entry and exit

In addition to preventing and combating illegal migration, the propaganda and mobilization work for people on both sides of the border to comply with the Agreement on border management regulations and border gates on land between Vietnam and Laos; the Protocol on border lines and border markers between Vietnam and Laos; and legal documents on national border management and protection are also of interest to units under the Nghe An Border Guard.

Thanks to that, households and individuals who regularly do business and produce in border areas have become the "eyes and ears", promptly detecting and providing authorities with a lot of information related to territorial encroachment, violations of border regulations, illegal entry and exit, contributing to maintaining sovereignty, building a peaceful, friendly, cooperative and developing border.

Many models of preventing and combating illegal entry and exit have been implemented with high efficiency, such as the crime reporting mailbox model or the self-managed border and border markers in villages and hamlets. For example, at My Ly Border Guard Station (Ky Son) - where the land border is 46.28 km long, including road and river, and 9 border markers.

Along with maintaining and consolidating 25 security and order teams in villages and hamlets, 3 teams and 5 households self-managing border lines, landmarks and posts, the model of "Self-managed boat team on border rivers and streams" was also built with 3 teams/12 individuals participating.

Since its establishment, members of the “Self-managed boat team on border rivers and streams” have provided the station with many sources of information, including information about violations of border regulations and illegal entry and exit for timely handling,” said Lieutenant Colonel Hoang The Tai, Political Commissar of My Ly Border Guard Station.

Along with propaganda and mass mobilization, patrolling and controlling to promptly detect and prevent illegal entry and exit, ensuring security and order in border areas are also closely and synchronously implemented by border guard stations.

In 2023, the border guards detected and handled 40 cases/53 subjects violating illegal entry and exit (a decrease of 97 cases/236 subjects compared to the same period in 2022); completed administrative sanction records for 34 cases/41 subjects violating border regulations (an increase of 3 cases/5 subjects compared to the same period in 2022); detected and handled 78 cases of illegal exit and labor to China, Japan, Laos... (a decrease of 32 cases compared to 2022).

In the coming time, to improve the effectiveness of the fight against illegal entry and exit and illegal migration, the Provincial Border Guard determined to continue to effectively implement the contents of the project and plan of the Provincial People's Committee, focusing on propaganda work, raising legal awareness, and bringing the Vietnam Border Law deeply into the lives of people in border areas.