TEHRAN — Iranian security forces have detained over 2,700 Afghan migrants in a recent crackdown, an Iranian police official said, as Tehran continues its efforts to expel undocumented foreigners.
Malek Hossein Chegini, the police chief of Delijan, a city in central Iran, said security forces had rounded up 2,735 migrants and transferred them to detention camps.
“The security forces, following judicial coordination, have collected and handed over 2,735 undocumented foreign nationals to the camps,” Chegini was quoted as saying by the state-affiliated Mehr News Agency.
Iranian authorities have long emphasized the need to expel Afghan migrants.
Nader YarAhmadi, head of Iran’s Office for Foreign Nationals and Migrants, recently said that the removal of Afghan migrants was a “public demand” in Iran.
He added that a nationwide census of foreign nationals would be completed by the end of the year to identify undocumented migrants and prevent legal complications.
