The detention of foreign nationals, that is, the detention units in Joutseno and Metsälä in Helsinki, are in all likelihood going to be maintained by the Finnish Immigration Service in the future.
The administration of the detention unit that is part of the state reception centre in Joutseno will be transferred to the Finnish Immigration Service from the beginning of 2017, if the parliament passes the government proposal (in Finnish) introduced in September concerning the integration of the state reception centres into the Finnish Immigration Service.
The transfer of the detention unit in Metsälä, which is maintained by the City of Helsinki, depends on the parliament accepting the unit’s appropriations in the state budget as operating expenses of the Finnish Immigration Service.
The city executive of Helsinki will consider the matter in its meeting which takes place this evening. If the city executive and later also the parliament gives the green light, the transfer of the detention unit will take place by the end of 2017.
The change mainly concerns the position of the staff
The Finnish Immigration Service is already responsible for the steering, planning and monitoring of the detention units, so the planned integration will hardly affect the practical operations of the units. The biggest difference is that the employees of the units will from then on be employed directly by the Finnish Immigration Service.
A foreign national can be detained at a closed detention unit if, for example, it is expected that he or she will go into hiding to avoid being refused entry or deported or if detention is necessary to look into an unclear identity or travel route.
Further information for the media:
Pekka Nuutinen, Director of the Reception Unit, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: forename.surname@migri.fi
