Gardai hold nine in illegal immigrant crackdown

Nine people have been arrested for deportation as the Garda crackdown on illegal immigrants continued across the State this morning…

Nine people have been arrested for deportation as the Garda crackdown on illegal immigrants continued across the State this morning.

A Garda spokesman said 92 other people were arrested under the Aliens Act during the second phase of "Operation Hyphen". The people detained are mostly from Eastern Europe and Africa.

Twenty-eight people were arrested in the Southern region; 27 in the Western region; 19 in the Southeastern region; 18 in the Northern region; and 9 in the Eastern region.

There are no further details on the nine arrested for deportation.

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About 300 gardaí were involved in the search and deportation operation under the direction of the Assistant Commissioner Joe Egan and the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

Those arrested under Deportation Orders can be detained under the Immigration Act 1999 for a period of up to 8 weeks, until arrangements for their deportation can be finalised.

Last week the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, defended "Operation Hyphen", saying around 80 per cent of economic migrants posing as refugees were diverting resources from genuine asylum applicants.